Through Sickness and In Health
by Breakmedownx09
Summary: Ashley Davies lost recollection of everything. Will she be able to put the pieces together and figure out who she is and whom she loves?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N

**Prologue**

Spencer absolutely loved her job. She wanted to follow in the footsteps of her dad by being a psychiatrist for teens. Becoming a doctor, like her mom, didn't really appeal to her because she didn't want to deal with traumas everyday. She would get sick over the sight of a bloody nose and pretty much anything bigger than that would kill her.

She had been a psychiatrist for about seven years. She began straight after college and has been working her way up to starting her own place. She went to the University of California and there she found out there weren't many teenage psychiatrists throughout the country; therefore, she wanted to be one of the few.

She was lucky to have a dad who helped her through the hard times when she was caught "kissing" Ashley. She wanted to help teens that were going through the same things she did. She knew how if felt to be in that position and that helped her to help guide teens.

Today, she wasn't putting her focus in completely because she had her mind set on tonight. She was going to surprise Ashley and show up at her gig at a local bar. This was one of the very few nights Spencer would be able to see Ashley perform and she wanted to make sure she would make it.

As soon as her last client's session was over, Spencer sped out into the parking lot and into her Escape to drive home.

Spencer entered her home, dropped the keys onto the ledge, and ran upstairs to jump in the shower. She wanted to look sexy so she would catch Ashley's eyes. If she was lucky, she might get some tonight, considering it's been awhile. Their schedules have been uncontrollable and they haven't spent much time together in a couple weeks, even though they live in the same house.

Tonight was going to be different. They were going to spend well-needed time with each other because it was overdue. A romantic evening is what they both needed after being under so much stress from work.

Ashley was performing at ten, but Spencer wanted to get there in time to get a seat at the bar or a table.

Ashley loves when Spencer pulls back her bangs and clips them to the back of her head. So she decided to put her hair like that to turn Ashley on.

Spencer finished her make up and put on a sexy outfit. She mixed some of her clothes with Ashley's clothes to look absolutely stunning. Spencer takes one last look at herself in the mirror. Spencer ponders a bit; _I hope no one tries to pick me up._

Girls and guys would try to pick her up but there was no way she would be taken away from Ashley. She was married to Ashley and she loves her way too much to do something like that. Besides, no one could compare to Ashley. Through sickness and in health, until death do them part, Spencer will be with Ashley.

***

Spencer got to the bar and luckily found a seat just in time to see Ashley perform.

Ashley's opening song was the one she made Spence and became her hit single "The One." Every time Spencer hears that songs, she begins to tear because it reminds her of the hard times Ashley and her went through to get where they are now.

She played five more songs. A couple of them were songs her dad, Raife Davies, originally wrote that she molded into how she would sing them. The others were songs she had written about her life.

It was around eleven and as soon as Ashley finished her last song, people fled to their cars to drive off. Spencer stuck around to see Ashley. Ashley immediately spotted Spencer as the bar cleared.

"Hey gorgeous," Ashley said and wrapped her arms around Spencer's waist giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"I wanted to surprise you-" Spencer paused a second, "surprise!" Spencer began giggling.

"Thank you for coming. Wait- weren't you working _exceptionally_ late tonight?" Ashley gave a quizzical look.

"That was all a part of my surprise," Spencer gave a wide smile.

"You little sneak," Ashley snickered.

"You're the one who taught me how to lie well."

"That's not the only thing I taught you."

"Who would've thought Ashley Davies had a dirty mind?" Spencer and Ashley snickered.

Ashley then scanned Spencer to see her sexy outfit. "What's the occasion?"

"Well… you… plus me… plus no distractions… equals a whole lot of Spencer and Ashley time," Spencer moved her eyebrows up and down.

"Well then the earlier we start, the more time we'll have," Ashley replied with her eyebrows.

"I'll see you at home then."

"Yea. I'm just going to make sure the stage guys don't need any help putting away things. See ya soon," Ashley blew a kiss to Spencer.

_Oh God, tonight is going to be one hell of a night. _

Spencer got home to set up their bedroom by lighting some candles and then the phone rang an eerie sound.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 1**

Ashley begins helping the crew pack away all of their things so they could get out in a reasonable amount of time. Ashley cared for others and helped others even if they didn't ask for it. She was a different person with Spencer.

Spencer taught her how to be nice to people and help them out. If you were to ask her for help before she met Spencer, she would've simply said, "Piss off," because that's just who she was.

Spencer taught her to be better. She taught her how to love one person instead of going through a different girl every night. She taught her that people do care about her and they do love her and the ones that don't, are missing out on a lot.

The crew and her manage to put away everything in less than twenty minutes. Ashley begins walking towards Kat, who was closing up the bar, "I'm checking out for the night. I'll see you Tuesday."

"Have a good night, Ashley," Kat replies with sincerity.

Ashley walks towards her older BMW and says to her car, "Sorry I kept you waiting so long," a snicker follows. She doesn't talk to cars normally; it's just that that car was very special to her—and Spencer. It was the car that Spencer and her shared many memories with. The most exciting one was when they ran away and went for a road trip because Paula kept Spencer away from Ashley. Ashley couldn't have that, so she kidnapped her. She begins to reminisce that trip. _God, that was such an amazing time. We were so in love._ And they still are. _I'm so glad Paula came around, though. Life would be hell if she didn't._

Ashley gets into her car, buckles her seatbelt, turns on the car and begins to back out of the parking lot to head home to her wife.

Ashley slams her hand on the steering wheel: _Shit! I forgot to call Spencer to let her know I left the bar_. Ashley blows it off and figures she would surprise Spence this time. Their house is about ten minutes away from the bar—using the highway. Ashley decides to go on the highway to get home faster.

The road seems to have fewer cars than it usually does, even though it's 11:30 at night. LA is an exceptionally busy city. The highway part of the trip is over so she takes the next exit and heads towards the city.

The ride is going smoothly until Ashley's favorite picture of Spencer falls from her visor. She decides to try to pick it up, but can't seem to reach it. She checks to see if any cars are in front of her or in back of her within close proximity so that she can get the picture without crashing into a car. There are very minimal cars, very surprisingly, so the coast is clear.

She has the picture at the tip of her figures, but that causes it to move farther away from her. She becomes angry: _Damn Spencer, cooperate_. She decides to just bend over and grab it. Not realizing she still has her hand on the wheel, she accidentally cuts the wheel to the left and ends up on the wrong side of the road.

She picks up her head and before she can think to turn the wheel, she sees a white light staring in front of her.

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Spencer begins to worry as she hears the phone ring. _Who could be calling me this late?_ She thinks about it a little more: _It's probably just Ashley_. She walks towards the phone and looks at the caller ID. It isn't Ashley, though; it's her mom and she is calling from the hospital. She only calls her from the hospital if something terrible happens.

_Oh God. The last time I got a call from my mom, it was when Glen tore his ACL._ She picks up the phone and hesitantly says, "Hello?"

"Spencer? Oh, thank God I got a hold of you," her voice sounds like she's been crying, "I think you should come down here fast, but I'm not going to tell you why because I don't want you to rush here and get into an accident."

Spencer hears a voice in the background "Carlin, we need you in Operating Room 4, now!"

"Spencer I got to go, but get here and safely please," Paula rushes her words.

"Ok. Bye," Spencer hangs up the phone quickly.

Spencer goes into the bedroom and gets on "real" clothes. She begins to blow out the candles and thinks about whom it could be.

_Obviously it's not Mom because she just called me and the doctor was telling her to get ready for surgery._

It's not Ashley. She would've called me before she left to tell me she was coming home.

Knowing Glen, he probably got into something stupid. I hope he's not doing drugs again because him and Brittany have a baby due in a couple of months.

Wait—maybe it's Brittany. Maybe she's delivering early. I don't think that would cause my mom to cry—unless she had a miscarriage.

Chelsea and Clay are in New York. Chelsea was displaying some of her paintings in the Museum of Modern Art.

Oh my God. I hope nothing happened to my dad. I could never live without him.

With that thought, Spencer finishes blowing out the candles. She heads towards the door, switching all of the lights off.

Ashley and her decided to live close to the hospital just in case there was any emergency. Spencer gets there within ten minutes and jumps out of the car to run to the door.

Spencer walks into the waiting area and analyzes who _is_ there before anyone notices her.

_Well there's Glen and Brittany talking to each other_…she scans the room a little more… _Dad and… Kyla? Why is Kyla here—why is she crying? _

Glen notices Spencer and runs up to her to give her a big emotional hug. _This is unusual. Glen never hugs me like this. _"Glen, what's going on?" she asks hoping for a quick answer.

"Spencer, it's Ashley," he says quietly.

**Hope you enjoyed the update. **


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 2 **

----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

"Glen, what's going on?" she asks hoping for a quick answer.

"Spencer, it's Ashley," he says quietly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer begins hyperventilating, "No Glen. Ashley was on her way h-," Glen cuts her off.

"She got into a really bad car accident, Spence. I'm so sorry," his eyes show me he is telling the truth, for once.

"Is she okay? I mean is she…" Spencer stops herself and begins crying her heart out. _This can't be happening. This has to be a REALLY bad nightmare._

"She's alive, but it's hard to say right now how bad she is."

Spencer pauses a moment, "What happened?" she reluctantly asks because she doesn't want to bear hearing what happened to Ashley.

"They're not sure exactly, but the EMTs said the other car driver was drunk. An idiot was driving while drunk," he says in astonishment. He continues in an angry tone, "Doesn't he realize what that caused?"

Glen's raised voice provokes her dad to walk over and talk with Spencer and Glen. All Arthur can do is hug her and try to reassure her that everything is going to be all right. "Spencer, everything will be okay," he lies not really knowing what will happen, but does it to help calm her down, "They've got the best doctors in there working to help her, including your mother." That causes her to calm down, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Where's mom?" Spencer asks.

"The last I heard she was operating on that drunken asshole," Glen informs her.

Arthur's eyes widen, "Glen, I know you're angry over this, but could you keep the swearing to a minimum?"

"Yea Dad," he obeys.

Spencer looks over towards Kyla and decides to talk to her. "I'm gonna talk to Kyla," she says to them as she points towards Kyla.

Spencer doesn't know what to say or if she should say anything to Kyla. She doesn't know how distraught Kyla is over the situation and doesn't want to make matters worse.

"Kyla," she welcomes Kyla into her arms to show support.

Kyla accepts it and responds after pulling away, "How are you holding up?"

"Not very well as you can see," Spencer says pointing to her red nose and eyes, "I guess it all depends on how well Ashley recovers from this, " she dips her head looking at her wedding ring, "How are you doing?"

"Well I've been better. You know, it's not everyday you get a call from the hospital saying your sister has been in a serious car accident," Kyla says trying to find some comic relief in this.

"Yea," Spencer says with a small laugh then quickly jumps back to reality.

---------------------------------------------------

The group has been sitting anxiously in the waiting room for about two hours now. A few of them had dozed off, but Spencer can't and won't fall asleep under these circumstances. Not when her baby's life is in danger.

Spencer gets up from her seat to nervously pace around the area, waiting for anyone to come out and tell her how Ashley is.

_Come on. Will someone just please come out? I want to know what's going on with Ashley, even if it's bad._ She begins to pray: _God, can you please just send someone out here to inform me of Ashley's condition?_

God answers her prayers within a matter of seconds as her mom walks out, "Spencer," she says trying to get her attention.

"How is she?" Spencer asks.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" she says trying to stall telling her daughter what the bad part is.

"Bad please, and tell me everything," she replies.

Paula sighs, "The bad news is that Ashley suffered brain damage. She will most likely lose her memory, but we don't know how much of it, yet. She pauses a second, "We'll have to find out when or _if_ she comes out of the coma," Paula gets that out quick.

"Oh my god. She may never come out of the coma?" Spencer's eyes become teary, "What could possibly be the good news?"

"The good news is that she was very lucky in not having any internal bleeding. The only other physical damage that was done was a couple broken ribs and a broken arm."

"Mom," she pauses to get her thoughts together, "I want your doctor's opinion when I ask this- not the protective mother's opinion: do you think she will come out of the coma? Will she ever be the same?" holding the tears back.

"Spencer, I know this is not the answer you expect, but I really don't know. We won't be able to know until she wakes up."

"Oh Mom," Spencer leans into her mother's chest to ball her eyes out.

Paula pulls Spencer away and says, "Spencer, we're going to get through this. _When_ Ashley wakes up we are going to be strong for her because she is going to need it." Paula is feeling for Spencer right now. It's showing as a couple tears fall from her eyes.

"Ok." Spencer wipes away her tears trying to create a smile. "Can I see her?"

"Yes. I'll walk you over to her room," Paula finishes, wiping the tears away from her face as she leads Spencer to Ashley's room.

-----------------------------------------------------

They get to her room, but Spencer stops herself before walking through the doorway and looks at her mom, "How bad does she look?"

"Pretty bad," Spencer looks down and Paula raises Spencer's chin, "But you can handle it. Just think about how well she's going to recover from this," Paula says trying to cheer Spencer up.

Paula walks away to give Spencer some time with Ashley.

Spencer turns the corner into the doorway and stares at Ashley in awe. Ashley looks worse than Spencer was expecting. She hadn't seen anyone after a car accident so she didn't really know what to expect, but this was worse than she thought she'd look.

Cuts and bruises are scattered all over her face. _This is not my Ashley. Not the one that I've known for the last fourteen years._

She's hooked up to all kinds of tubes and machines, helping her live, but Spencer can't help notice how they are covering her beautiful face.

Spencer takes a few more steps to stand next to Ashley. She gently rubs her fingers in Ashley's hand.

Spencer begins talking to her, not expecting a response, "Ash I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I showed up at the bar unexpectedly. If I didn't, this wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't have rushed home to be with me. I'm so sorry."

Spencer kneels down and cries into Ashley's hand, "Ash I love you and I hate seeing you like this, but you're going to get through this because you're a fighter. You have to so I can see those beautiful brown eyes of yours."

She hears footsteps getting closer to the door. Spencer quickly wipes evidence of tears off her face.

"Wow," he looks at Ashley's face not being able to tell it's her, "He really did a number on her. His tone raises a bit, "If that idiot survives, I'm gonna make him wish he didn't."

Spencer can do nothing but laugh in confusion. She has never heard her brother threaten someone, especially not someone he barely knows. "Glen, that's very sweet of you, but I think that would just make the situation worse. Besides you need to be focused on Brittany and the baby."

"Yea, you're right."

"Glen, can I ask you something without you lashing back at me?"

Glen sighs, "Yea, Spence?"

"How come you're acting like this? This whole 'I hate the kid for doing this and I'm gonna fuck him up because of it' mode? You've never been this emotional over something."

"Spence, you're my little sister. Ashley got seriously hurt from that guy and it's also affecting you along with other people. I can't stand to see you go through this much pain," Glen becomes emotional.

_Emotional Glen has been unleashed._ Spencer snickers to herself for that one.

"Thanks Glen. That means a lot," she says walking towards Glen to hug him.

"No problem. Britt and I are going to head back home. I shouldn't have dragged her out here this late, but I knew it was important family business."

"There's the Glen I was waiting for. The one who does ridiculous things _constantly_," Spencer snickers.

"Not all the time," Glen tries to defend himself, but fails miserably.

"Shall I bring up the time you did drugs?" Spencer responds raising one eyebrow.

"Touché," he says realizing his defeat, "I really have to go, but Spencer, if you need _anything_, please call me."

"Thank you and I will," Spencer promises.

Glen walks out of the room and leaves the hospital with Brittany.

Arthur and Kyla decided to head home and get some rest to come back tomorrow to help Spencer.

Spencer grabs a chair to sit next to Ashley because she knows she's going to be there awhile.

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	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N and creators of _50 First Dates_.

**Chapter 3**

--------------------------------------------------------------------  
_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

Spencer grabs a chair to sit next to Ashley because she knows she's going to be there awhile.

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_Two months later_

All of Ashley's bandages and scars are clear from her face. Spencer runs her fingers through Ashley's luscious brown hair. Spencer leans over and places a kiss on Ashley's forehead.

Her dad walks into the room, "Spence, you should go home and get some rest." He gently pats her on the shoulder. He becomes aware of how she's holding up her head with her hand, using the bed for support. Arthur spots a tear coming down from her eye. "Spence, talk to me," he begs.

"Dad it's been two months and there hasn't been any improvement. How do we even know if she's to wake up again?" she is honest, hoping to seek guidance through him.

"We don't know, Spence," he says causing her head to dip down. Trying to improve her mood, he comes up with a past experience she went through. "Spencer, do you remember when you crashed the car?"

"Dad, this is no time to point out my stupidity over the years," she says still keeping her head down, but her eyes rise up at him.

"Your mom and I punished you by taking the car away from you, but we didn't tell you how long we were going to keep it. You had to wait patiently until we thought you were responsible enough to drive the car again-"

Spencer interrupts because she knows where her dad is going, "Because I didn't know how long it was going to take. I just had to have faith in you guys to give me the car back, eventually. Just like I have to have faith Ashley will fight to come back to me."

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_Four months later_

It's precisely the same date, six months ago since the crash.

Ashley's hair has gone back to its natural form because it hasn't been straightened in months. It reminds Spencer of when they met for the first time. Ashley's hair was scattered all over, telling she was having a bad day, but to Spencer, it was a masterpiece. Spencer loved twirling her fingers in Ashley's hair when they would cuddle on the couch or in bed. She repeats it, reminiscing those times.

*****

Spencer cut back on working many hours in order to be with Ashley most of the day. Her dad told her to not quit her job because it wouldn't be good for to spend every moment, day in and day out in the hospital. He thought it would be healthy for her to live her life as she would normally before the accident to the best of her ability. Spencer couldn't see that as an option.

Spencer begins thinking about Ashley's options. Kyla interrupts her thinking when she enters the room, "How's she doing?"

"There's no improvement," Spencer frowns and notices Kyla's disappointment, "But the nurses and doctors have been working on doing physical therapy with her to see if that will make a difference. They 'exercise' her muscles by moving her arms and legs every now and then"

"They really think it's gonna make a difference?" Kyla becomes somewhat excited.

"Frankly, I don't see how it would help, but I'm willing to let them try anything just to se-," Spencer chokes up, "Just to see her again and be with her and to hold her. I miss her so much, Kyla."

"Spence, I do too. I miss her obnoxious wake up calls at 5 A.M. to get me up in the morning. I miss how she used to cheer me up when I had at rough day at work, when I first started. I miss how she would push me to achieve more," Kyla holds back the tears, but continues, "If it weren't for Ashley, I wouldn't be where am I today."

Spencer listens intently.

"You know, she was the one who pushed me to become an interior decorator. I told her it was too much work. I didn't want to go to school and work hard to achieve that. Yet, I did as you know, but it was all because of Ashley. She told me I had so much potential and I shouldn't waste it. She was right," her sentences come out choppy, but Spencer understands she needed to get it out.

"Kyla, you never told me this. No, I know you're an interior designer, but I never knew the story behind it," Spencer says in shock. "How come you never told me this before?"

Unsure of a correct answer Kyla responds, "I guess this was sort of the appropriate time to say it."

"Well I guess better late than never," Spencer frowns.

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_Later that day_

The only sounds Spencer can hear in the room are the machines and her stomach asking for food. To keep busy for a little, she decides to view some of the GET WELL gifts Ashley was given.

Most of the gifts she got were flowers from various people. Ashley always loved all aspects of flowers- especially receiving them. She respects the time and effort florists put into their arrangements. She loved breathing in the smell of flowers when she would step into their house. She loved how they could brighten up a room just by being there.

Spencer admires how all of the florists went above and beyond to put the floral arrangements together. The way they arranged the flowers and the colors they incorporated into them would have been greatly appreciated by Ashley. They were surely a work of art.

Spencer begins reading the notes that came with the flowers out of curiosity as to what the majority of them said.

**From Glen and Brittany:** _You have places to go, people to meet, and things to enjoy, so get better soon. Love, Glen & Britt_. How cute. Spencer laughs and thinks about how Glen always takes a positive note on things. Spencer looks over at Ashley. _Yea Ashley, we have to move to Ohio to start our family remember? We might want to hold off on that until I tell my parents._

Ashley and Spencer both felt it was better to raise a family in back in Ohio. Not that L.A. wasn't good enough, but they wanted their kids to grow up in the suburbs with other kids in the area.

Spencer looks at the next flower arrangement. It's from Spencer's parents.

_You are in our thoughts and prayers in your recovery, Love Mom and Dad. _Spencer loves how well Ashley's relationship got stronger with her mom enough for her to consider Ashley one of her own.

The next one almost brought Spencer to tears.

**From Christian:** _May family and friends bring you strength, comfort, and support to get well quickly._ Christian was always a good person, especially towards Ashley. He was her agent for her music career. Though he was not only her agent, he was a support system along with a best friend to Ashley. Christian helped Spencer prevent paparazzi from swarming the hospital everyday. This would've become the front page of every magazine that dealt with celebrities. Not to mention all local newspapers would have it too. That's exactly what Spencer didn't need. _Thank you, Christian. _

Spencer takes a couple steps around the room to go to Kyla's gift. She chose to not get Ashley a floral arrangement, like others did. Instead she gave her a pamphlet of Spencer and Ashley's dream house in Ohio.

Ever since the idea came up about moving, Ashley always talked to Kyla about how she wanted her house to be perfect. She had the whole house planned out in order to fit their lives. Kyla began to jot mental notes down in order to create their dream house on paper and eventually build it. Kyla had majored in Interior Design and minored in Architectural Design, making it possible for Kyla to take on the project completely.

_Kyla must've dropped this off yesterday. _Spencer opens the pamphlet and gasps. _Kyla this is perfect. I'll look 100 times better 3-d than it is on paper. _Spencer flips over the pamphlet and reads the note Kyla wrote.

**From Kyla:** _I figured this would be an incentive for you to wake up and recover._

A knock on the door interrupts Spencer. She places down the pamphlet.

"Hey Spence. How are you?" Arthur knows the answer considering where Ashley is now.

"I'm getting better. It's tough though," she shies away looking at Ashley. Spencer becomes deep in thought and her dad recognizes it.

"Talk to me Spence," he begs.

"I don't know dad. It's just-," Spencer sighs. "It's been six months, but there hasn't been any improvement. I feel terrible even bringing this up but," she pauses wondering if she should really say it, "and I'm the one who has consent to take her off… Life Support."

Her dad looks at her in shock she brought that up. He always wondered if she was thinking about that, but he knew it was not a topic of conversation. "Spence," he puts his hands on her shoulders, "if you really feel this is the right thing to do, then you do it."

"But I feel it's the wrong thing to do. I'm not the only one who is suffering from this- all of those people are," she says pointing her finger around the room. She puts her hand through her hair, " I still believe there's a possible she will one day wake up. Whether it's today, tomorrow, or ten years from now."

Silence produces, as neither know what to say.

Spencer breaks the silence. "On the other hand, she's probably suffering so much being in the coma. Her body must be in so much pain to be able to maintain a coma for that long. I would never want her to be in any pain and if that means taking her off of Life Support, I'll do it," she says with all honesty.

Seconds later they hear rustling of Ashley's sheets. Arthur glances over at Ashley and shouts, "She's moving!"

Spencer turns around in confusion, "Ashley?"

*****

Ashley takes a while to respond. She blinks continuously trying to come to the realization of where she is. She looks over at Spencer and Arthur and quickly shuts her eyes as if trying to wake up from a dream. Questions race through Ashley's mind. _What's going on? Who are they and why are they here? Why does the girl look like she's been crying? _Ashley looks around the room at all of the gifts, but does not say a word. _Are they supposed to be for me? _She continues to look around the room in confusion. It comes out raspy, but she finally gets the strength to speak, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Ashley, it's me. It's Spencer," Spencer's worried about _how much _memory she lost exactly.

"Spencer…? Spencer who?" Ashley's puzzled.

Spencer starts hyperventilating. Ashley doesn't even know her anymore. Spencer was afraid this was going to happen, but she never thought it would come true. _Oh no. The love of my life finally woke up, but she can't even remember who I am._

"I'll go…get Dr. Brown," Arthur says as he scurries out of the room.

"You don't remember me- at all?" Spencer asks hoping for a different answer than Ashley gives her.

"Am I supposed to?"

"Yes! You should because we're married and we love each other," she screams relieving her frustration over Ashley's reaction. Spencer inhales deeply and exhales slowly, calming herself down to get back to Earth. She comes to the conclusion that she shouldn't be mad at Ashley because she can't help the fact that she lost her memory through the accident. She needed to help Ashley recover well and hopefully help remember who she is.

_What?! I'm married? But I'm only 16!_

Dr. Brown walks into the room with a face as if a light bulb was turned on in his head. "It's a miracle- she woke up! Good to meet the awake side of you," he excitedly says and stretches out his hand offering a handshake from her, but she rejects it.

He blows it off and begins to check her breathing, her vitals and anything else that is important. Ashley passes all of the tests with flying colors. He first takes off the Life Support because she is too alert and healthy to be connected to it still.

He finishes disconnecting and she asks, "When can I get out of here?"

"As soon as I feel you're healthy enough to go back home."

"And when will that be?"

"I'm not sure," he gets short with her, " it depends on how willing you are to cooperate with me.

Ashley pouts, but chooses to obey in order to get out quicker.

"Ashley, I'm going to ask you a series of questions and you have to answer them honestly and to the best of your ability. This will help us tell how much you lost in the accident."

_**I **__was in an accident? Who AM I? _Ashley signals him to move on with her hand.

"What is your full name?"

"Ashley Marie Davies."

"Where and when were you born?"

"L.A. January 22, 1989."

"What year is it?" he asks trying to trick her.

"2005."

Spencer's eyes become quarters.

"What month are we in?"

Ashley thinks a little, but comes up with nothing, "I'm not sure. April or May?"

Spencer's eyes grow even bigger. _Perfect, she remembers everything except meeting me._

Dr. Brown looks over at Spencer and asks, "Does that help you? Can you tell me what she's _technically_ living through now?"

Ashley overhears him and blurts out, "I have a boyfriend- his name's Aiden. My mom and I live together in this huge mansion near the Lexus dealer in town. My dad left us a long time ago. My mom said he left to be with some girl he met at a gig in Baltimore. My dad loves me, though. We always go out to dinner once a year, the same day- every year. My mom's a b-." She gets caught up in the moment and stops before they question her about it.

Spencer walks towards Ashley about to tell her the bad news about her dad and Aiden. Spencer looks Ashley straight in her eyes, "Ashley, I know you barely know me, but you have to trust me when I say this," she exhales a big cloud of air, "Aiden and your dad are not here with us anymore."

"What do you mean?" _Could've something happened to them? Please don't tell me they're-_"They passed away. Your dad was killed in a car accident about thirteen years ago on his way home from having dinner with us- me and you."

"Daddy? That's not right! How could that happen to him? It's not fair! It's not f…," she cries her heart out as she did the first time.

Spencer holds Ashley in her arms trying to sooth her pain like she did when she got that news the first time. Ashley pushes her away, as Spencer expected and screams, "Let go of me! You have no right to try and help ease my pain. You have no idea what I'm going through right now!"

_But I do Ashley, I do._

She wipes away the tears and sniffles, "What happened to Aiden?"

"At our junior prom there was a drive-by shooting and Aiden got shot in the heart and died instantly."

"He didn't deserve to die. He was my best friend, my only friend," her sadness quickly turns to anger. "Oh well that's just fucking terrific isn't it? I got no dad. I got no boyfriend. I have no one."

"I know you don't want to hear this, but you have me. You will _always_ have me," Spencer responds in hope of Ashley's acceptance.

"I don't even know you- or like you. I'd rather live with the crazy bitch I have as a mom. She treats me like shit. I can't stand her anymore," it slips out.

Spencer holds back her anger from taking over her. If she didn't love and care for Ashley, she would've ripped her head off right there and then.

Spencer has never heard Ashley talk about her mom this way. She thinks about it a little more. As a matter of fact she can't recall Ashley ever really bring up her mom. Spencer only met her a couple of times and it didn't seem like there were tensions between them.

Spencer gently puts her hand on Ashley's shoulder, "Ashley, talk to me. Tell me what happens with you and your mom."

With that simple touch, Ashley loses consciousness and blacks out.

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	5. Chapter 4

**I love all of the reviews :) **  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**This chapter's pretty long and action-packed so enjoy.**

**WARNING****:** **This chapter deals with abuse.**  
**Flashbacks and dreams are in **_**italics.**_

**Chapter 4**

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_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

Spencer gently puts her hand on Ashley's shoulder, "Ashley, talk to me. Tell me what happens with you and your mom."

With that simple touch, Ashley loses consciousness and blacks out.

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"Ashley? Ashley!" Spencer screams. She's fearful Ashley died.

Dr. Brown snaps his fingers to get her attention. No response. The monitors aren't beeping to indicate her heart stopped. Dr. Brown checks her pulse. She's breathing, just not responding. "I'll ask a nurse to get pepper from the cafeteria," he rushes out towards the nurses' desks.

Ashley blacks out bringing her to flashback a terrible memory.

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_It had been a couple of months since Spencer and Ashley became a couple._ _**I'm**__ a bitch? You'll see how much of a bitch I can be," Christine plows Ashley over and they hit the floor, hard.__**really**__ happened._Her mom began to drink more and more every night from then on. Whenever she was drunk and Ashley was home, Ashley got a beating. Ashley tried to do her best to stay out of the house as much as possible, but sometimes her plan failed. She resorted to Spencer's first, being she was her girlfriend and Paula had become accepting of their relationship and didn't mind Ashley spending time there. If for some reason she couldn't be with Spencer, Aiden was always there for her. Aiden had fallen in love with Ashley in 10th grade, but he respected Ashley and Spencer's relationship and decided being friends was better than nothing. He held in his love for her until her couldn't anymore- at their Junior prom.

Ashley and her mom, Christine, never had the best relationship with each other. They didn't quite understand each other. Christine never gave Ashley the time of day because she didn't agree with her daughter's rebellious attitude. Christine would have to constantly sign suspension/detention forms for Ashley. She was sick of Ashley's outrageous behavior. Before Ashley met Spencer, she did drugs. When her mom found out she was doing drugs was the point where Christine didn't give a damn about her daughter anymore.

Ashley felt like she was an orphan. Her mom always ignored her and her dad was all over the country majority of the year, touring.

Ashley's mom had come home piss drunk that night. She was at a Christmas party with her company- big event. Christine drank before, but she had never come home from the party drunk before, so this was a first.

A co-worker who didn't drink at the party drove Christine home. She went into the house and immediately plopped herself onto the couch in the living room. She had her eyes closed, but was somewhat alert of her surroundings. She heard Ashley's footsteps race down the stairs as if she was going to sneak out of the house. "Were youu going?" she questions her daughter.

"I'm going over Spencer's house. I have to drop a present off at her house," Ashley became curious of her moms slurring. "Mom are you drunk?" Ashley walked over to the living room, instantly smelling the stench of her alcohol-induced mom.

"O. Isn dat the lesbian fren of yours? You really no how to pick good frens," sarcasm was in her voice. Ashley couldn't quite tell what her mom was saying, but after a few seconds, a light bulb went on and she became infuriated. Christine hadn't known they were going out until that night.

"Mom! You will not talk about her that way. She's the best person I know. She's my best friend and I lo-," she stopped herself, but continued figuring her mom would forget about it in the morning. "She's my girlfriend, Mom. I really care about her and she really cares about me. We love each other."

Christine's eyes widened as far as they could go. She got up from the couch and walked straight towards Ashley, "I did not raise you to become this. You sicken me. Get out! I don't want you in here or in this house!." Her voice came out very clear to Ashley, but she didn't follow her orders.

"You're going to kick me out because I'm in love with a girl? No, no way in hell am I gonna let you do that." Her eyes look intently into her mom's.

"Well then I'll just have to pack your stuff for you and kick you out. You can come back when you decide to straighten up."

"So much for loving your daughter. Fuck you. You're a fucking bitch. I can't believe you're even my mom." Ashley had stepped the boundaries. Pure, evil anger rose into her mother's eyes. At that moment, Ashley became intimidated and started to back away from her mom.

Christine gets an arms length close to Ashley. She swung her hand with full force, smacking Ashley's face. Ashley's head turned with the momentum of the hit. Her left side of her face instantly became red. Ashley had never hit her before then. Then again, Christine was never home long enough to have a good, hearty conversation with her daughter, either. It was the first time, but it was only the beginning.

"A fucking bitch? You think

Christine was stronger than Ashley expected. They hit the floor and Ashley tried to push her mom off her, but no luck. Soon enough, her mom had both hands around Ashley's neck.

Her airwaves were being constricted and her own mother was slowly killing her. Ashley wasn't going to let her mother kill her. She kicked her right knee up into her mother's ribs hard enough for her to let go.

Ashley rapidly inhaled as much air as she could to get into her lungs. She rolled over onto her knees and hands in effort to get up when she got the strength. Her mom's ribs had recovered quicker than Ashley's did. Christine stood up and over Ashley's weak body.

Christine rammed her foot into Ashley's ribs repeatedly, screaming, but not producing any words. After five good kicks she stopped. Ashley's body couldn't take any more hits in her ribs. Ashley fell back onto the floor and coughed continuously. She turned over as her eyes cautiously watched her mom's moves.

Ashley whimpered like a dog when their owner leaves them. Before she had time to get up, her mom walked towards where her head laid and yanked her head up with her hand. She threw Ashley causing her to hit the coffee table. The sharp corner of the table dug into Ashley's shoulder, making it bleed. "Fuck," Ashley murmured.

To Ashley's surprise, throwing her daughter across the room took all of the energy out of her as she collapsed to the ground. Her eyes closed and she had passed out. Ashley waited a while until she thought the coast was clear to walk past her mother. She struggled to get up, but she had to see if her mom was still alive. She stood, towering over her mother, watching her chest rise and fall- she was alive.

She walked to the bottom of her staircase. It was a far enough distance from her mom to be able to study her bruises. Her ribs weren't broken and she could tell that without an X-ray. She had been in a horrific snowboarding accident and broke a couple of ribs awhile back.

There were no noticeable black and blue marks, but her mom did a number on her left shoulder. Ashley knew it was going to leave a scar. She figured cleaning it and putting a gauze pad would be good enough- and a sweater so Spencer won't be suspicious. With that, Ashley got on her phone to call Spencer who was probably waiting for her present right then.

There was only one ring back and then an answer, "Hey, Ash."

"Hey, Spence. I'll be over in a few minutes; I just wanted to know if I could stay the night at your house. My mom hasn't gotten home yet and I really don't want to stay home by myself tonight," she lied knowing that telling her the truth would be too much. She hoped Spencer wouldn't hear the struggle in her voice from the pain.

"Yea. I'll just tell my mom you're staying over. It'll be fine. Why do you sound like you're in pain?" Spencer became suspicious.

"Well, you know the clutz that I can be. I wasn't paying attention and I accidentally slipped and fell down the stairs. I'm fine though- I'll live. I'm just worried about the stairs," Ashley said with humor trying to direct Spencer's attention away from her voice.

"Funny Ashley. Are you sure you're okay? I could save you the trouble of coming over. I could come over to take care of you," Spencer's worried.

"Spencer, I'm fine, really. Besides it'll be fun to have a sleepover. We haven't had one of those in a while," Ashley said in a preppy tone, still trying to direct her attention. She also didn't want her to come over and see what

"Okay. We'll then I'll see you in a little?"

"Yep. Let me just pack a few things and I'll head right over."

"Okay. Drive safely," Spencer almost hangs up the phone, but realizes she forgot something. "Wait. Ash?"

"Yea?"

"I love you," Spencer was still worried and Ashley noticed in her voice.

"I love you, too Spence forever and ever. Now let me go so I can come over sooner," she smiled.

"Okay bye," nice and quick- like pulling off a Band Aid.

Ashley closed her phone and made her way up the stairs. She hoped her mom wouldn't remember what happened tonight because she couldn't stand another beating, but she was wrong.

***

Ashley had to lie and hide the scars from them until Kyla came along. Ashley's dad died and she found out she had a sister. Her dad had a kid with the woman from Baltimore and kept it a secret. Kyla was only a few months younger than Ashley.

Miraculously, her mom stopped drinking. Ashley thought it was because she didn't want Kyla to think any less of what she appeared to be. She stopped beating Ashley. Ashley was thankful for that.

Her mom continued to direct her attention towards Kyla. To Christine, Kyla was 'the daughter she never had.' Straight A's, no complaints, and she was straight. She was the perfect child anyone would wish for. What her mom was too busy to realize was Ashley was better with Spencer. Spencer her made her more like Kyla was, expect for the being straight part.

There relationship maintained the "love to hate" aspect of it throughout the years. Ashley had to invite her mom to their wedding because Spencer would catch on and investigate. Christine didn't attend, though. She wouldn't stand seeing Ashley marry another woman- it wasn't right to her. She made up a business trip she had to go to in order to not be present at the wedding.

Ashley never made the effort to call her mom and give their relationship a shot because she knew it wouldn't have ended well. She just had to accept that her mother pretty much disowned her and her dad was great until he died.

********************************************************************

Dr. Brown rushes back in with some peppershaker. He leans over and places it just beneath her nostrils waiting for them to catch the smell. One quick swig of the pepper got her back to reality. Her facial expressions show she had just experienced the scariest thing in her life, "Oh my God."

"What Ashley, what is it?" Spencer asks hoping maybe Ashley had a dream that reminded her who she was.

Ashley doesn't respond. Instead she sits there looking at the both of them, but not really realizing it while she asks herself questions. _My mom beat me? I hope that bitch is dead. Maybe it was supposed to happen in the future. Wait, who is Spencer?_ She looks at Spencer consciously. _Is that the Spencer I fell/will fall/am in love with? Did I ever go to her house? What happened?! _Ashley reaches over to her to her ribs to see if it hurts to touch it- it didn't. Then she moves her hand up to feel her left shoulder to see if there was a scar on her left shoulder. She shifts her hospital gown to view her shoulder. She touches the exact spot where Spencer previously had her hand. There is a scar.

"Ashley, if you can hear me, say something," Dr. Brown demands.

She looks up at him and immediately looks at his nametag. It reads "neurologist" on his coat. Before that, Ashley thought he was the basic doctor or nurse. _Maybe he can tell me why that just happened to me._ "I can hear you. What just happened to me?" she didn't know if that experience was supposed to help her or make her more confused than she already was.

"You passed out, but you were still breathing so we didn't have to jumpstart your heart again or anything like that. Are you all right? Did anything happen?" he looks suspicious due to her sudden reaction to waking up.

"What year are we in?" Ashley tries to figure out how old the scar may be.

"2018. You're 29," Spencer blurts out before Dr. Brown can even think of an answer. She doesn't know where Ashley's going with that, however.

_How did I get to be 29? The scar has been there for 13 years? There's no way a scar can generate without an accident happening beforehand. My mom must've done it already. _She analyzes the scar a little more. _Wow, good job __**mom**__. I never want that to happen again. Did I ever report the abuse?_

"Ashley, why are you looking at that scar so carefully?" Spencer wonders. _Did I hurt her when I put my hand there?_

"Do you know how I got this?" she asks looking at Spencer.

"You said you were carrying too many things into the living room and you accidentally tripped over your own two feet and hit the corner of the end table," Spencer remembers exactly.

"**When** did I get this?" Ashley figures this answer might help her with her own questions.

"Um…I'm not exactly sure. Maybe it was around Christmas time," Spencer stops. She suddenly remembers when. "I'm almost certain it was over Christmas break. You slept over my house one night because you said your mom hadn't gotten home yet and you didn't want to stay home by yourself. The next day you told me you fell…" She shakes her head wondering why she was asking her.

_Either that was the truth or I lied to her._ Ashley's confused by how Spencer knows her so well. _Maybe we are married? I don't know. I still can't believe it or want to. I need time to think about this._ She doesn't respond to Spencer, she asks the doctor a question, "When can I get out of here?"

"You should be able to get out of here in the next two days as long as you show you can live on your own. Well, not alone. You're going to live with Spencer, here," he points to Spencer.

"Why with her?" Ashley doesn't want to have to stay with her. She doesn't even like her.

"Because you're going to need me and I already need you. We need each other- it's always been that way," she interrupts while showing sadness. She comes to the conclusion their relationship is going to have to start all over again. _Hopefully she'll fall in love with me again._

"Okay," she goes along with it, but knows she has other plans.

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_Later that day _

Spencer goes home to grab something to eat. She makes her favorite sandwich- a basic PB&J. Of course she serves it with a cold glass of milk. By accident, since her head wasn't exactly in the right place, she opens the freezer door looking for the milk. She becomes aware of a box of frozen quesadillas in the door. Spencer laughs as she reads the note: FOR ASHLEY'S STOMACH ONLY. She forgot about those quesadillas. Ashley bought those a couple days before the accident. Quesadillas were by far Ashley's favorite food, hence the very abrupt note. _She probably doesn't even like these anymore, but I guess I'll save them._

Spencer closes the freezer door to open the fridge door to get the milk. She closes the door and walks to the counter with her glass. She pops open the milk and pours the milk. Then her house phone rings loudly. It startles her and she misses the glass a little bit and the milk ends up on the counter and her hands.

She walks over to the phone and reads KYLA. Spencer figures she's calling to return her phone call she made earlier. She picks it up, wiping her hands on her pants, "Hello?"

"Hi, Spence. I'm glad I got you. I just got the message you left. So Ashley's awake? How is she? How long is she gonna stay there?" her mouth is going a mile a minute.

"Kyla slow down. I can barely understand you."

"Oh, sorry Spence. She's awake?"

"Yes. She just woke up this morning."

"Is she okay? I mean she's not mentally disabled or anything, right?"

"She woke up and Dr. Brown right away analyzed her to see if she was healthy. She amazingly passed all of the tests to get off of Life Support, but there's something else…" Spencer mumbles the last part eager for Kyla not to hear it, but it doesn't work.

"What is it Spencer? Tell me, please. If there's something wrong with her I want to know. I'm her sister for crying out loud," Kyla's voice tells she is scared.

"My mom warned me that it might happen, but I never believed it would actually happen…" Spencer hauls telling Kyla the sad truth.

"Spencer just tell me. I can deal with it. We can deal with it."

"She lost a lot of her long-term memory in the accident- 13 years. The worst part is she remembers everything up to the point of meeting me. She can't remember one single thing about me or us as a couple. I'm 'meeting' the Ashley before I moved to L.A. and I honestly don't like her right now. She's being a complete bitch to me and has no remorse after doing it," she walks over to the paper towels to clean up the milk she spilled.

"If she doesn't know you, she doesn't know me. That's wonderful. She gets to be a complete bitch to me as well, just this is the second time around," she chuckles sarcastically.

"Yup. The only people she knows are her dad, her mom, and Aiden- so far. What I didn't want to tell her today was two of the three were dead. It was heartbreaking to tell her that and to see that expression on her face again," Spencer throws away the half-soaked towel and heads back to the milk.

Kyla gasps, "Oh no." She takes a few moments to respond. "Spencer how are we supposed to get her back to normal?"

"I don't know. Dr. Brown is supposed to set her up with a therapist. That's if she'll even agree to it," Spencer grabs the milk and heads to the fridge to put it away.

"She better- if she knows what's good for her. If she doesn't, her life will be a mess. Who knows what she'll get herself into," Kyla expresses frustration through her voice.

"Yea," Spencer opens up the freezer door again and realizes her mistake. "Ugh." _I did it again._

"What happened Spence?" Kyla hears the struggle in Spencer's voice.

"Oh nothing. I'm just so distracted by this whole situation that I'm having trouble getting and putting away the freakin milk," Spence laughs off her mistake and puts the milk where it belongs.

"I think you should go lie down for a while. This whole experience has drained you and I think if you got some rest you could come up with a plan or something. Don't worry, though, Spence. We'll get through this. She'll be back to her normal self in no time," Kyla tries to reassure Spencer.

"Okay, I will Kyla. I'll talk you later then?"

"Yes, call me if anything changes or you just want to talk. I'm gonna go over to the hospital to… I'm not sure what exactly. Maybe by some slim chance she'll see me and remember something," disappointment is in her voice.

"Okay bye," she hangs up the phone. She looks up at the ceiling, aiming to talk to God. _Will you please just help Ashley remember something- anything?_

--------------------------------------------------  
_While Spencer and Kyla were chitchatting… _

Ashley lies down in her bed, in amazement by the scar. The doctor told her to rest, but she couldn't because she was too confused about everything. Besides, Dr. Brown told her she had just come out of a six-month coma- she didn't need anymore sleep. Then she figures if she obeys the doctor's orders, she'll get out quicker.

She begins to slowly close her eyes. The room minimizes as her eyelids get closer and closer to the bottom. Her eyes finally close as she prepares to go to sleep. Yet, within the few split seconds of closing her eyes, she gets quick flashbacks of her mom beating her.

She immediately opens her eyes and springs her whole torso up from the bed. She feels like her heart jumped out of her skin because it was racing so fast. For some reason she gets a sudden urge to be with someone, to comfort her, but she doesn't know who. _I need to talk to someone, but not Dr. Brown because he'll think I'm crazy and then I'll never get out of this hospital. _

She slowly places her back to its previous position. She closes her eyes and puts her hand on top of her eyes to calm herself down. She inhales and exhales slowly to get her heart back to normal. She turns her head to look out the window. The sky is beautiful and somehow it calms her down quick. _That was a scare. Let's hope it doesn't happen again. _

A knock on the door occurs, but it doesn't startle Ashley or cause her to turn around. "Spencer?" she asks hoping it's her. _Wait, no. I can't tell her anything. I don't know her well enough to confide in her and especially with such a serious thing like this. _

"Actually, no. I'm Jake Kessler," Ashley knows it isn't Spencer just by the masculine voice- unless Spencer knew how to throw her voice that well. She flips over her head to speculate the guy in the doorway. She observes how both of his hands are behind his back and he's dressed extremely well for whatever occasion this was supposed to be. She thinks he looks sharp and handsome. _Black pants, white dress shirt, and a blue tie- intriguing. He looks like he's 24, 25- tops. I'm flattered if he did this solely for me, but what's in his hands that he wants to conceal?_ She becomes scared and offensive considering she has no idea what anything means anymore. _This could be another person who abused me for all I know. He looks too nice to be that cruel, though. _

"Why are you here?" she takes the approach with a sharp tone.

"Well I heard you finally woke up and I wanted to visit you. I wanted to say I am sorry," he says sincerely.

"Okay." She waves him off, "You can go now."

His eyes enlarge in shock of her inconsiderate attitude. "I can see you're not in the mood or whatever the case may be, but these are for you," he brings his hand from his back and lays the flowers on a table with some of the other GET WELL gifts. He turns around and flips his hair to see where he's going.

She gazes at the flowers and admires them right off the back. She wanted to know why he came to visit her and why he cared enough to bring her flowers. _How did he know I love flowers so much?_ "Hey you! Come back here!" she yells out of the room to get his attention.

He turns around and walks into the doorway once again. "Yea?" he wishes she'd hear him out this time.

"How come you brought me flowers?" she anticipates he knew her before the accident.

"I just thought they would be a good gift to give you."

"Why are you here?"

"This might sound weird, but I'm the one who ran into you- with my car. I'm the drunk driver that got into the accident with you six months back," his eyes look up and down in embarrassment.

"Oh. So I was driving a car… and you just ran into me?" she looks perplexed.

"Yea. I was coming home from a party one night and I was piss drunk. I had a really bad drinking problem back then," he confesses.

"Was this around Christmas time?" _Maybe that's what happened that night. Maybe I was on my way to Spencer's house because my mom beat me, but I never made it because I got in the accident. I found a piece to the puzzle! _

"No actually," he's puzzled now. He talks to himself to figure out when, "Well it's October now…six months prior to that is… April." He turns his eyes to her, "It happened in April."

"Oh," she still needs to find pieces to the puzzle. She's scrambling on the carpet, going under the couches, and under the tables just to find the damn pieces to the puzzle.

"I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but I have good news. Well it's good for me, I don't know about you. I won't be a danger on the road because my license was taken away and I had to go through two months of rehab. I'm actually glad that was my punishment because it taught me a lesson- to never drink over my limit of alcohol and then drive," he smirks realizing what a douche bag he was back then.

"Well at least I know you won't be crashing into me anytime soon," she laughs at her own joke.

"Yea. You're right. I'm just very lucky to be here and have a second chance to do things right," he nods his head and looks down at the floor.

"What happened? Were you seriously hurt?"

"I was pretty bad, but I was so lucky not to slip into a coma. Dr. Carlin saved my life. I could never repay her," he looks like he's deep in thought and Ashley catches a glimpse of it.

"I'm sorry. If this is making you uncomfortable then you can leave. I won't be offended. You've been so great and patient with all of my questions, it's unbelievable. I want to thank you," she opens her arms to receive a hug.

He pulls back to sit back on the chair. He looks into her brown sensitive eyes and immediately gets hooked to them. Ashley stares back and giggles like a schoolgirl with a crush. _He's way too cute to deny. _

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**Questions? Comments? Concerns?**

**There might be confusion because on the other site I first posted this on, there was a lot of confusion because of a mistake I made so just let me know if you find one. **


	6. Chapter 5

**Love the reviews! =)**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**WARNING: this chapter deals with abuse **

Chapter 5

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**Previously on Through Sickness and In Health**

_He pulls back to sit back on the chair. He looks into her brown sensitive eyes and immediately gets hooked to them. Ashley stares back and giggles like a schoolgirl with a crush._ He's way too cute to deny.

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He smiles back at her and dips his head down to hide his obvious "I like you" face. He realizes what he's getting himself into and backs away before it goes too far. He quickly jumps out of his chair and moves it back to its previous position. He takes a quick glimpse of her and says, "I gotta go. Bye Ashley it was nice talking to you." He tries to get out as quick as possible, but Ashley stops him in his tracks.

"Will I see you again?" she likes him and can't deny it. She hopes they will see each other in the future. _Maybe he's the one. The one I fall in love with and marry and have kids and grow old with.___

"I don't think that would be a good idea. I have a girlfriend and all and it just wouldn't be right," he lies. He doesn't want to get involved with someone who A: is married, and he knew that, but didn't want to scare Ashley by telling her she was married and B: has lost her memory and could not be who she really was before the accident. He swiftly raises his hand to wave goodbye and brings it down quick, hitting his pants, making a loud, slapping noise. He is out of the room in no time.

What was that? He so didn't have a girlfriend because he totally had the look that said he liked me. And what is up with me getting rejected by a guy? I never get rejected- I'm too hot. I gotta tell Madison this…

Kyla walks into the room, startling Ashley's concentration. Kyla opens her mouth to say something, but no sounds produced. Ashley's astonished by how much they resemble each other. _She kinda looks like dad._

_Ten bucks says she knew me before the accident_. Ashley decides to be the first to talk this time, "Wait, before you say anything, did you know me before the accident?"

"Yes."

"This is going to sound crazy, but are we related somehow? Marriage, blood?"

"Yes. Blood."

_Two for two Davies- nice job. Now lets see if she can get this next one. For the million-dollar question_, "Are you my sister?"

Kyla didn't hesitate, "Yes. We have the same dad."

Wrong answer. Ashley Davies, you are the weakest link, goodbye. How could this have happened? Well, Mom said he left us for some woman in Baltimore. Maybe that relationship turned to something more?

"Are you from…Baltimore?" she asks motioning her eyebrows down.

"Yes. Wait, do you remember me?" her face expresses her shock. Maybe she remembers me. Wait, how could she remember me and not Spence?

"No? My mom always told me my dad left us for some girl in Baltimore. I figured maybe he had a kid, but kept it a secret. Is it true?"

"Yes. I'm sorry if that's not what you expected, but it's the truth. I hope you're not mad," Kyla's concerned. She takes a step back, waiting for Ashley's response.

"No I'm not mad. It doesn't surprise me really, considering I just found out my ex is dead and so is my dad. I don't know what to expect anymore," she shrugs her shoulders. "Welcome to the family."

Kyla's mind is blown. She can't believe how Ashley reacted to the news. _Why was she so nice? She was a complete bitch the first time._ She chooses to ask Ashley, "Why are you so nice about it?"

"I don't know. I think I have to be nice to everyone in order to figure out who the hell I am. It's also nice to know I have more family," She really meant just _family_ due to her dad's death and mom's abusive attitude towards her.

"Have you talked to Spencer?" Kyla knows she has, but asks to trick her. She wants to know what she thinks of Spencer.

"The girl with the blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Yea. Were you able to talk to her?"

"She was in here when I woke up. She claims her and I are married, but I'm not even gay." _Am I?_

Kyla scuffs her voice, "Um, I hate to break this to you, but you are. You're gay **and** married to Spencer."

"What? I can't be." _Yes, Ashley you can. You've been questioning your sexuality ever since you met Paige._

"You are," Kyla has the "sorry-to-break-it-to-you" look.

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The next day

Ashley wasn't able to get much sleep last night due to recurring nightmares of her mom slapping her face and kicking her ribs. Every time she would close her eyes, for just a few minutes, her mom would be standing over her, ready for her next attack. Ashley had to do her best to sleep through some of them so the doctor wouldn't be able to tell she didn't get mush sleep last night.

Ashley wakes up at 5:00 A.M., like she always did before the accident. Ashley doesn't understand why she woke up when the sun wasn't even out. She also can't comprehend why she's so alert, too, especially at this hour. In the back of her mind she feels like she has to do something. _Ashley, you're crazy. What could you possibly have to do at 5 o'clock in the morning? _

Ashley sits there listening to the conversation between two of the nurses at their desks.

"It's got to be so hard for her to go through this. She woke up and everyone's telling her who she is, but she can't come to realize it," one says. _Nurse number one._

"Yea, but think about how tough it is for her wife. She sat there day in and day out, waiting for her to wake up. Finally, she woke up, but can't even remember her own wife," she frowns, crossing her legs. _Nurse number two._ _Wow that's got to be so hard to go through. You sit there waiting and waiting for your wife to wake up and when she does, she can't remember you. Wait, are they talking about me?_

_If I really am married, I have to accept it. I made vows to her, which I don't remember doing, and I have to follow them. I'm not going to just up and trust her and commit to her, though. She has to earn it. I don't trust anyone in this world, other than myself. _

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_Around 2:00 that day _

"Hey, Ash," Spencer walks through the door with a bag of unknown items and a few empty boxes.

"Hi," she replies nonchalantly.

"You get to come home today. Are you glad?" she drops the bag and the boxes down next to the chair. _Will she even want to come home with me?_

"Yea, I am. I won't be confined to this room anymore," she smiles.

_That's the smile- right there. I've missed it for so long. _Spencer smiles back; glad to know Ashley's at least temporarily happy.

_I get to leave here. I get to leave here. Woo hoo! Finally, I won't be forced to eat cafeteria food and lie in this uncomfortably stiff bed. _She swivels her body trying to find a comfortable position.

Dr. Brown walks in the room. With excitement he says, "You get to leave Mrs. Davies. Are you excited?"

"Hell yea!" she blurts out and realizes it was inappropriate by the look on his face. "Yes, Dr. Brown."

Spencer smiles again. _She's back to her 16-yr old attitude. It's too funny. Thank God she's not the nasty girl I met the first time. What made her changed- or is this just an act?_

"As long as Spencer brought you a change of clothes, you can leave," he looks to Spencer.

"Yea, they're right here," she picks up the bag.

"Ok. Thank you, Dr. Brown for taking care of me," she offers him a handshake.

He accepts the handshake, "It was a pleasure." He turns to Spencer and lays out his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you. I trust you to take care of her when she's out of here." He begins to walk out, but stops and turns around. "Oh- I'm leaving it up to you to decide whether or not you want to send Ashley to the therapist," he whispers and hands her the therapist's business card.

"Ok," she whispers and nods back.

"Bye Ashley," he waves to her and she repeats the action.

Spencer picks up the bag and hands it to Ashley. "Thanks," Ashley says.

Spencer backs away from the bed to give Ashley some room to get off the bed. Ashley pulls the blankets back and swings her legs over to the edge. She jumps off the bed and her hospital gown begins to fall down. Spencer observes all of this. Both snort as Spencer hurries to catch the gown before it falls completely off of her. She grabs it just in time and holds it for Ashley until she gets into the bathroom.

They get to the bathroom and Ashley turns around to look at Spencer. "Thanks, for not letting my body be exposed to the whole hospital," her cheeks are red, but she's smiling at the ridiculousness of what happened.

"I wasn't going to give them the pleasure of seeing your body," Spencer smirks.

"Why, thank you," Ashley smiles then goes into the bathroom to change. _How nice of her._

_Maybe this falling in love over again thing won't be so bad after all. _

Spencer begins putting the GET WELL gifts in the boxes to take home. A few moments later there's a big bang. Spencer laughs thinking she's probably having trouble balancing herself while getting her pants on. "Are you okay?"

Ashley screams from the bathroom, "Yea, don't worry I didn't fall in the toilet or anything!"

"That's good. I wouldn't know how to explain to the nurses why you were head-first in the toilet," Spencer laughs.

Ashley unlocks the door and steps out. "Ha-ha, very funny," she's trying not to laugh.

Spencer notices how Ashley's looking at her packing the flowers, "I'm almost done and then we can get out of here."

"No it's fine. Take your time. I'm just amazed at the flower arrangements the businesses put together," Ashley's in awe.

Spencer picks up the last one and really looks at it- top, bottom, left, right, "They do a fantastic job. I'm just going to say this, you don't have to respond." Spencer puts the arrangement in the box and picks up the box. "Right before you woke up, I went around the room and looked at all of the flowers. I couldn't believe how well they were done. I knew you would love them when you woke up."

Ashley looks at Spencer intently, but doesn't say anything. She's not sure what she should say, but decides to say something, "Thank you for being there everyday. It must've been so hard to come here every day just to find out I wasn't going to wake up that day. I feel so bad I don't know you yet, but I'm going to try my best to get it back to normal."

"Thank you, Ash. It's good to hear that from your mouth, considering you weren't very nice to me the first time we talked."

"I'm really sorry about that. I should've put into consideration what you went through before I woke up."

"It's okay, Ash. You're here now and you're willing to change."

***

Ashley and Spencer get to the house and Spencer parks in the driveway. Ashley stares at the house in front of her through the windshield. _It's so beautiful. _Spencer turns her keys to turn off the car. She unbuckles herself and can't resist looking at Ashley. She detects Ashley's expressions. 

Spencer studies the house then looks back at Ashley, "Ash, what are you thinking?"

Ashley gets back to reality to look at Spencer, "Oh, It's so beautiful. I never dreamed of living in this nice of a house. Well, I'll be honest, I was expecting to live in a mansion when I got older considering my dad was making millions, but things can change."

Spencer nods her as she follows along. She opens the car door and steps out. Spencer grabs a box of flowers and Ashley's clothes. She glances back at Ashley, who was making her way out of the car. "You might not believe it, but we got this house because of you. You worked so hard to become the great artist that you are," she says proudly.

Ashley's shocked. _What kind of artist? Music artist? _"Can you tell me more about it?" she gets out of the car, grabbing a box of flowers.

"Yea, sure. Let's go inside, though," she closes the car door and heads to the front door. Ashley closes the car door behind her and runs to the front door like a little kid. Spencer opens the door and leads Ashley into their home. She circles her hand around the foyer, "So, what do you think?"

"It's perfect. I really did well- WE did really well," she smiles.

"Yea, we did," Spencer replies, gazing around. "Well shall I give you a tour?" she asks playfully.

Ashley smiles, "You shall." _She's being waaay too nice- and cute. _

"We should start upstairs and then work our way down," Spencer suggests.

"Whatever you chose. I'll follow the leader."

"Okay. Upstairs then."

Spencer leads the way up the stairs and into their bedroom first. Spencer opens the door to reveal their bedroom to Ashley. It was a very big room with pictures of the two of them spread all over- they were never afraid of the camera. Their bed takes up a good majority of the room- a California King bed. Ashley couldn't help but run towards the bed to jump on it. Spencer watches her actions as she leans her shoulder against the doorway with her arms crossed. She has to hold back her laughter. Ashley understands what the gesture means and she gets off. She walks towards Spencer with a forced frown, "I'm a bad girl, I know."

"Yes you are," Spencer tries to hold her smile, but can't resist. "Don't worry you can still sleep there tonight."

"Uhh," Ashley murmurs. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I'm going to sleep on the couch downstairs- if we have one- until I feel comfortable enough to sleep in the same bed with you."

Spencer's disappointed, but understands, "It's fine. I understand, but you're always welcome to sleep here."

"Thanks. I want you to know that I can't deny how well you're treating me and respecting me and making me laugh and helping me and…" she stops, trying to think of other things. "That's all I can think about right now, but I'm sure there will be more." She stops for a moment to gather her thoughts. "I want you to know that I trust you- more than anyone I've ever met, for some reason. I don't trust too many people," she confesses. "Well I guess I'm supposed to trust you since you're my wife and all."

Spencer holds Ashley tight in her arms. Tears start to slowly come out of her eyes. She pulls back worried Ashley was uncomfortable. She sniffles, "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. You did it for a reason, whatever it was. It felt good to be hugged. I don't get it that much," she pulls closer towards Spencer. She wipes the tears away. "There- all better."

"Thanks," Spencer smiles and sniffles again. "Let's go see the other rooms." They turn around to walk down the hall a little bit. Spencer stops Ashley from entering to surprise her. "I think you're going to like this one." Spencer opens the door slowly to reveal the contents of the room.

Ashley peaks into the room and automatically gets drawn in. "Oh my God," her mouth and eyes open widely. "This can't be real." Ashley pinches herself to make sure she's awake. "Did you buy me all of this or was it here before the accident?" It was her own recording studio with her guitar, a mic, and all of the equipment that goes with it. She walks over to her guitar to pick it up. She grazes her hand over it in shock.

"It was here before," she informs. "You were always into music; especially creating it," she waits. "I remember your first performance- you were scared out of your mind."

"Really?" she asks as if was hard to believe, but sees it as a possibility. She picks up the guitar and lays it on her thigh. She reminisces back to her childhood. "I remember when I would have nightmares when I was like five or six, my dad would play the guitar until I went to sleep." She waits, "That stopped when my parents got a divorce." She frowns, looking at her guitar.

"I thought you're parents divorced when you were two. Did he stick around?" Spencer gives a confused look.

"My dad met a girl from Baltimore at a show and obviously it turned into something- Kyla- when I was two. My mom said when they got a divorce when I was 6 he resorted to the girl from Baltimore. I guess he found out he had another kid when he moved there, but kept it a secret," that's pretty much all Ashley knows.

"Oh," Spencer stops and thinks. _Did she just say Kyla?_ "How do you know Kyla- do you remember her?!" Spencer asks in excitement.

"No, I didn't remember her- she visited me yesterday and told me her story," she waits. "She was shocked at how well I took the fact that my dad had another kid and didn't tell me. I was glad to find out I had family—outside of you."

"Yea, family," Spencer smiles.

------------------------------------------------

_Dinnertime_

Ashley sits on the couch in the living room, watching TV. She chooses to watch _Real World. _It's not her favorite show, but there was nothing else on that was worth watching. She takes in a long, deep smell of what is being created for dinner in the kitchen. _It smells delicious- it smells like Mexican food._ "Yo, Spencer?" she shouts in an odd tone.

"Yea?" Spencer responds.

"What smells so good?" she pauses for no less than a second. "Is it Mexican food?"

"Yup. I made it just for you," she says laying the last utensil on the table. "Dinner's ready." Ashley jumps off the couch in excitement and heads to the table. She gazes at the food as she takes a seat with a plate there.

"She pushes her chair in as she states, "This smells so delicious. How did you know I liked Mexican food so much?"

Spencer had an answer for that without having to speak a word. She walks over to the freezer and grabs the frozen quesadillas. She walks back over to Ashley and exhibits the food in a playful way. She reads, "FOR ASHLEY'S STOMACH ONLY.'"

"Oh," Ashley laughs to herself. "I see your point." _Obviously I bought those before the accident. _

"Yea," Spencer laughs and puts the food back where it came from. She walks back to the table to take her seat. She looks at Ashley, who is seems scared to touch the food- as if she didn't want to impose by eating the food. "Dig in already. What are you waiting for?"

Ashley doesn't answer—she grabs the components to make her chicken fajita. Like a little kid, she piles the ingredients on the tortilla, like she always did. Spencer fixes her eyes on Ashley's actions and can't help but laugh. She keeps it to herself so Ashley doesn't realize it.

After about ten minutes of stuffing her face with the food, she sits back on her chair, expressing she's stuffed. Sounding like she's in pain, "That was so much better than the cafeteria food I've had to deal with the past two days." She stops for a few seconds and abruptly, "I feel like a pig."

Spencer laughs at how she said it. She reassures Ashley, "Don't worry you don't look like a pig so it's all good."

"Why, gee, thanks," Ashley goes forward with the chair so all four legs are on the floor. "You know I thinks it true that if you eat a lot, you get tired instantly."

"Yea, probably. Well, I'll clean up and then I'll make up your bed on the couch, but don't go to sleep so soon because if you go to sleep right after eating, you get nightmares. Food for thought," Spencer picks up their plates to put in the sink.

"Don't worry, I won't get nightmares," She reassures.

Little did Ashley know, she wasn't going to be able to keep her promise.

------------------------------------

_3:00 AM_

"Stop!" Ashley screams at the top of her lungs. That sudden scream jolts Spencer in her sleep, but doesn't quite wake her up. "Stop! Don't touch me!"

Spencer jumps up from her bed, "Ashley?"

"Don't touch me!" Ashley's scream heightens.

"Ashley?!" Spencer screams in fear that someone was kidnapping her baby or worse- raping her. She flies out of her bed and promptly puts a robe on to cover her body. She kneels down to grab a bat from underneath her bed—it is there for protection.

"Stop! Get off of me! Stop hitting me!" Spencer speeds down the stairs. Spencer turns the corner to see Ashley sleeping, but obviously having a terrible nightmare. "Help! Someone help me!" Ashley's body is squirming and she's flailing her arms around, trying to get the person off of her- whoever it may be.

Spencer runs to Ashley's side and kneels down to her level, "Ashley? Wake up." No response. Ashley's movements become more violent and erratic. "Ashley? You need to wake up. Ashley!" Spencer screams in horror and what she's experiencing.

"Get off of me! Stop hitting me! Help! Anyone!" she screams in pure desperation.

_What am I supposed to do?! Spencer think of something, quick!_ Spencer grabs Ashley and holds her tight, embracing the hits of Ashley's arms. "Ashley, everything is fine. I'm here. I will help you," she says in a soothing voice. Ashley's movements slow down to a manageable size. She wakes up to the warmness of Spencer's body and her calming touch. She begins to cry in relief the nightmare was over. "Ashley, you have to tell me what happened. That wasn't a normal nightmare- that was almost demonic."

Ashley's head is still on Spencer's shoulders as she confesses everything, "When I blacked out the day that I woke up, I had a flashback to my mom beating me around Christmas time one year- really bad. It was the very first time she beat me. I'm not sure if she continued- I never got to see that part. It was really bad, Spence. She almost suffocated me to death. And ever since that flashback, I haven't been able to get any sleep for more than an hour at a time because she would always appear there, over my body, beating me. Spence, I have a feeling that wasn't the only time it happened. I think it happened for a while. I'm so scared of her. I never want it to happen again, Spence." She cries harder on her shoulder, but now in fear of the nightmare occurring again. It was by far the worst nightmare she's ever had.

_What?! Ashley never told me this, but then again, Ashley wouldn't tell me something like that. Wow, they never seemed to have problems with each other. That's probably the reason why Ashley never stayed in touch with her own mom._ Spencer pushes Ashley away and moves her hair away from Ashley's face, "Don't worry. I would never let her put a finger on you."

"Thank you," she sniffles.

Spencer wipes away her tears and suggests, "Why don't you come and sleep in the bed?"

Ashley nods her head, not responding with words in fear she'll start crying again.

They get into the room and Spencer pulls back the covers to let Ashley in. Ashley puts her head on the pillow with her face facing Spencer. Spencer climbs into the bed and rests her head against the backboard. Ashley waits until Spencer gets settled and then she rests her head on Spencer's chest. Spencer gets closer to Ashley, making it comfortable for her. Ashley's face is still red, and puffy from crying. Spencer brushes her fingers on Ashley's forehead to make her feel secure. Out of nowhere Ashley says, "You make me feel safe- whenever you hug me or just touch me. I feel like nothing can hurt me when I'm with you."

Spencer smiles, knowing her baby feels safe in her arms. They fell asleep in each other's presence, peacefully.

Ashley didn't wake up once that night because of a nightmare.


	7. Chapter 6

**Love the reviews :D **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 6**

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_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

_Spencer smiles, knowing her baby feels safe in her arms. They fell asleep in each other's presence, peacefully. _

_Ashley didn't wake up once that night because of a nightmare._

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Ashley wakes up to Spencer still cradling her in her arms. Spencer isn't up yet so Ashley swivels her way out of bed, trying not to wake her, but it doesn't work. Spencer realizes Ashley's not in her arms and she isn't satisfied with that. With her eyes closed and her face head down in the pillows Spencer says, "Honey, come back." She doesn't realize she's talking to the new Ashley- the one who might not want her to call her "honey." After waiting a couple seconds Spencer grasps what she just said. She picks up her head, looking for Ashley, "Sorry it just slipped… where'd you go?"

As Ashley tiptoes into the bathroom, "Don't worry. I like when you say it." She smiles. Spencer smiles and plunges her head down onto the pillow with the sound of Ashley's voice. She's facing the ceiling. Ashley almost gets into the bathroom, but sharply turns around. "Why am I up so early?"

With her head still on the pillow, "You wake up everyday at 5:00- even on the weekends." She pauses a few seconds. "And you call Kyla to wake her up, but only on the weekdays."

_So that's why I woke up so early._ "Oh. I woke up yesterday feeling like I should've been doing something that early in the morning, but I couldn't think of what," she replies as she switches the light on in the bathroom and squints her eyes to deflect the bright light. Ashley twirls her body around the bathroom, looking for bathroom necessities. She peaks her head out of the bathroom and stares at how comfortable Spencer looks. "I really hate to bother you, but could you help me with a few things? I don't really know where anything is and I don't want to make a complete mess."

Spencer lifts her head and beams her eyes straight at Ashley, almost in an angry conduct. "Fine. I can't go back to sleep anyways. You're making too much noise," she says trying to be serious, but laughs instead. She scrambles out of bed and makes her way into the bathroom.

*

As Ashley is loudly rambling words in the shower, Spencer decides to call up her mom, in hopes of getting her on her break or at least not during a busy time. She dials the number quickly. While the phone rings Spencer jumps up and down as if she has ants in her pants. She whispers into the phone, "Come on Mom, pick up."

Paula clears her throat, "Hello?"

Spencer stops bouncing and zooms her focus into the conversation. She speaks to her mom, while keeping her voice level to a minimum, "Hi Mom. I don't have much time to talk so I'm going to say this really fast." She takes a deep breath. "Last night, I heard Ashley screaming on the couch loudly. She kept shouting 'Get off of me; Stop; don't touch me!' I ran downstairs, thinking it was an intruder, but I found out it was Ashley having an absolutely terrible nightmare. I tried to wake her up, but it wasn't working. Pretty soon she began flailing her arms around, trying to get the person, who was hitting her, off. I just held her tight, praying that a miracle would happen and she would wake up." Spencer pauses to catch her breath a little. "She did, luckily."

Paula gasps. In a frightened tone, "Oh my God, Spencer. What was the nightmare—who was hitting her?"

Spencer took longer to tell the story than she'd expect. She chooses to check on Ashley first before continuing. "Hold on Mom. I want to check on Ashley first. I don't want her to know I'm talking to you about this." Spencer moves the phone away from her ear, to protect her mom's ears from bleeding from the yelling she was going to do. She creaks the door open a smidge and yells into the steamy bathroom, "You okay in there! You almost done!"

Ashley wipes away the water from her face and shouts back, "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm almost done!"

Spencer forces out her words quickly, "Don't rush- take your time." Spencer needs all the time she can get a hold of. Spencer puts the phone against her ear again and asks in a calm voice, "Mom, are you still there?"

"Yea, Spence. I want to know what happened," she says in an anxious tone.

"Okay. Where was I," she puts her hand on her forehead. "Oh I remember. She told me that when she blacked out, after she woke up from the coma, she had a flashback of her mom beating her- around Christmas time one year. She said she thought it was the first time it happened, but doesn't know if that was the last. She's had these awful recurring nightmares of her mom beating her every times she's tried to fall asleep- except after her episode last night," she waits. She continues in a scared tone, "Last night was utterly horrific- almost demonic. It was _**that**_ scary. I don't want that to happen again- not tonight; not ever."

Paula tries to take it all in, moving her eyes from side to side across the room. In a confident voice, "Spence, listen to me. I'm going to take care of this. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to do something."

Hoping to not have her mom hang up on her mid-sentence, she charges her words. "But wait Mom. We don't even know if it's true. I mean I believe her and all- it would be hard to not believe her after last night- but what if it didn't happen?"

"It doesn't sound like it was made up," Paula states.

***

Ashley drops her spoon in her bowl and with her mouth full of cereal she mumbles, "So since I don't know you too well yet, I think we should play a game of 20 questions- except they're not going to be yes and no questions."

Spencer looks at Ashley and agrees, "Yea, I think that's a great idea. Am I asking you any questions?"

"I guess if you feel the need to, but you shouldn't because you've been married to me… how long?"

"Almost 8 years. Our anniversary is in a couple weeks," she nods her head with a grin plastered on her face. "That counts as a question by the way," she waves her finger at Ashley.

"Wow- that long. Next question: what's your full name?" _I can't believe I maintained a relationship for that long. She must be more special than I thought. _

"Spencer Danielle Carlin Davies," she says with pride.

_Carlin? That sounds familiar._ In a sexy tone, "Ooh, what a sexy name. Are you in anyway related to Dr. Carlin? " _Number 2._

"Yes, actually. She's my mom," she nods.

She thinks back, "Oh, because the guy who I got into the accident with visited me and told me Dr. Carlin saved his life."

"Yea, that was her. Glen wanted to kill that guy," she whispers to herself.

Ashley catches it, "Whose Glen?"_ 3._

"Oh it's just my brother- he's an idiot," she says as she gets up, picking up both of their bowls to head to the kitchen,

Ashley follows with their mugs of coffee, "Will I ever meet him?" _4._

She places the bowls in the sink, "Yea, whenever him and Brittany get the chance to make their way over here."

"Who's Brittany?" she asks as she lays the mugs in the sink, carefully. _5._

"She's Glen's wife and mom of their new child, Melanie."

"Aww what a cute name," she ponders. "Is there anyone else I need to know about?" _6._

"Actually, there's quite a few people you need to meet," she heads to organize the newspapers on the table so it looks halfway decent. "You know what? I just got a great idea."

"What is it? _7?_

She looks at Ashley with a big smile as if she had the best idea in the world, "We should have a party." She opens her arms in excitement, without audio.

"Spence, no. I could barely handle the occasional visitor in the hospital, I don't think I can deal with a bunch of people in one area all here for me," she pouts.

"Oh come on. It'll be fine- and fun. You'll get to know everyone and I'll make your favorite- Mexican," she raises her thumbs up, hoping for a good response.

She shrugs, but gives in, "Fine, but **only** if you serve Mexican."

"Fine," she runs and gives her a big hug. "I gotta go call people to see if next week's good. I know it's kind of short notice, but I'll try to get everyone here."

"Okay, but when you're done I want to ask you more questions," she watches Spencer go into the drawer.

Spencer shuffles through the junk in the drawer to find a piece of paper and a pen. She finds a decent pen and a good size piece of paper and begins to jot down the names of who she needs to call. _Mom and Dad, Kyla, Glen and Brittany, Clay and Chelsea, Madison, and Christian._ _That should be all of them._

Spencer is able to reach all of them. She spins to look at Ashley and gives her a smile, "Everyone can make it, surprisingly. They're all ecstatic to see you again—and healthy." She walks towards Ashley and jumps up and down like a little kid. "This is gonna be so much fun."

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I still need to ask you more questions, missy," she grabs Spencer's arms to contain her jumps. Both of them move to the family room to play their game.

_I absolutely love those blue eyes of hers. They're so beautiful. _They sit in the room, staring at each other, not knowing what to say. Spencer breaks the silence, "So what did you want to ask me?"

Ashley jumps, realizing Spencer might've caught her staring into her eyes. _Why am I so worried? We're married - I have a right to stare deeply into her eyes. _Ashley clears her throat then speaks, "Um… did you always live in L.A.? I never saw you around in school before."

"Actually, no. My family picked up everything and left Ohio in October of my junior year. My mom got a job offer at the hospital where you were treated," she nods her head. She looks down at her ring. "I remember when we first met each other. I asked you where one of the classrooms was and you snapped back at me like I had just slapped you in the face." She laughs.

Ashley smacks her hand onto her open mouth, " Oh my- I'm so sorry." She moves her hand away. "So then what happened?"

Spencer sighs, "Well Glen had basketball tryouts that day and I decided to hang there until he was done so I would have a ride home. You must've seen me in the gym and decided to apologize to me." In a slow tone, "That was pretty much when we clicked."

"I'm glad I apologized," she grins. She ponders a bit before saying anything else. "Could you imagine if I didn't go back and apologize."

Ashley says it as a statement, rather than a question, but Spencer responds anyway. "No. No, I couldn't." She stares into Ashley's eyes.

***

The clock ticks at a soothing pace as both concentrate on what they're doing.

Spencer is sitting on the living room couch, skimming the front-page of the local newspaper. She looks at the headlines only, deciding from there if she wants to read a certain article. She flips the last page. _Nothing new. Same stuff, different day. _

Ashley, on the other hand, was struggling to find some words in the daily word search puzzle in the newspaper. She merely has two words left and then she can figure out the hidden word. She directs her eyes to the first word in alphabetical order: strike. The puzzle is about baseball, but while she reads the word, she's not thinking about baseball. Ashley closes her eyes subtly. Her mother is standing over her. She gasps loudly, causing Spencer to turn her head and tips her glasses, "Ashley? Are you okay?"

Ashley rotates her head to have a perfect view of Spencer, "Spence, I want to visit my mom."

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The keys turns, automatically shutting off the car. Spencer scrunches her eyebrows, and with a concerned voice, says, "Are you sure you want to do this? I don't know if this is a good idea."

As she unbuckles her seatbelt she looks over at Spencer. In a serious manner, "I **need** to do this Spencer. This will help me—hopefully." Spencer is told to stay by the front door of the house, but to not enter it, by Ashley. If Christine were to assault Ashley, Spencer would dash in and help her. In a matter of seconds Ashley is out of the car and almost in the house. Spencer jumps out of the car to catch up to her. Ashley storms into the house, not bothering to knock considering it was still her house and this was urgent. Ashley walks around the foyer screaming, "Christine are you here? I need to have a talk with you!"

A phone hangs up and Christine appears out of the living room. Her face is red and puffy and has evidence of tears falling not too long ago. She calmly speaks to Ashley, "What is it Ashley? What's wrong?"

_Wow she actually sounded like a concerned mother there. Snap out of it Ashley. Don't get drawn into her little act that she's pulling off really well. _Very abruptly Ashley answers Christine, not wasting anytime, "Have you ever hit me—even once?" If it is true, she doesn't want to stay in the same house with her any longer than she has to.

"Yes, Ashley," she says ashamedly. She's being serious and Ashley can't believe it really happened.

Ashley begins to hyperventilate. She's in shock she was actually beat by her own mother. She looks at her mother, "You did it more than once didn't you?

"Yes, but-"

"But nothing **Mom**! I don't think I can ever consider you my mom again," Ashley watches her mom closely with her eyes.

She says in desperation, "Wait Ashley let me explain." She tries to grab Ashley's arm to get her attention as she walks away.

Ashley rips her hand away from her and screams, "Get off of me! You have **no **right to touch me. If you ever lay a single finger on me, I'll sue your ass so bad." Spencer hears Ashley's scream and automatically runs into the house to help her. She sprints into the house, catching both of them off-guard. Both turn their attention to Spencer, but say nothing.

Christine takes her focus off of Spencer and looks at Ashley again. Tears begin to pour out as she cries for hope, "Ashley, let me explain. I promise you I will never do **anything **like that again. I know it's not going to be even close to enough, but I'm so sorry. I had no right to hurt you—at all."

Ashley and Spencer listen intently to what she says. Ashley looks up at her mother, "Damn right you didn't." That is usually the point where she would storm out of a situation, but she decides to stick around to hear what else she has to say. A few moments go by without anyone saying anything. "Anything else?"

Christine wipes her tears away and looks at Spencer, "Your mom called me today. Right before Ashley came in. She told me everything. She told me about the accident. She told me about the nightmares Ashley's been having. She even told me how **you **were able to help her get through last night." She pauses a moment. "You're not going to believe this, but she taught me how to accept things that didn't seem normal to me. I should've respected your relationship with Ashley and realized how much you two loved each other, but I didn't. Instead, I tried to drink away my sorrow of never having a 'normal' daughter. Then I beat Ashley because she was in love with a girl. I just beat her and beat her over and over again." She begins to cry again. "I'm so ashamed—really. I don't expect forgiveness from either of you. I understand completely if neither of you never talk to me again."

Spencer is in shock from the news. _This is too much to comprehend. So she __**did**__ beat her- she did it because Ashley is/was gay? I can't believe Ashley never told me this. _She stays still for a moment. _All of those black and blues, cuts, and scars were all from her mom. She lied to me. _Spencer doesn't know whether she should be mad at Ashley for not telling her something like this or Christine for doing this to her baby.

Ashley turns to look at Spencer's reaction—she doesn't like it. It only makes her more confused about what to do next. _The old Mom would've never apologized for anything at all. She must be sincere with this, but should I forgive her? Forgive her for neglecting me all of those years? Forgive her for beating me because I fell in love with Spencer, who is the best person I know? I don't know if she deserves that right now. What if I gave her a second chance? _Ashley takes a deep breath and proceeds to tell Christine her decision. Ashley gets straight to the point, "I think that it would be best for us to talk to each other everyday—but only on the phone. If we are able to maintain that kind of relationship then maybe we can actually visit each other in our free time. I will be honest with you, my trust in you has broken severely." Christine sets her head down. "_**But**_ I will give you only one chance to help you get it back."

_What? Why is Ashley doing this? She's being __**extremely **__nice to someone who beat her so many times. Why is she being so nice—did I do something? _Spencer looks over at Ashley and asks, "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

Christine examines the conversation being held in front of her.

Ashley responds, "Yes, I'm sure."

Christine quickly leaps towards Ashley to thank her with a big hug. "Thank you so much Ashley. I promise from the bottom of my heart—wherever it may be—I will make this better," she says humorously.

--------------------------------------------------

_Later that day_

"Mom, you have no idea how much that meant to Ashley—and me. Thank you so much for talking to her," she says while smiling.

"It was my pleasure, honey. As long as both of you are happy and healthy, I'm happy," she smiles back on the phone. "_Carlin, enough chat time. We need you in ER 2," _a voice shouts in the background."Listen, I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later?"

"Yes. Goodbye," Spencer responds simply.


	8. Chapter 7

**I made a minor change in the story. A couple chapters back I said Aiden respected Spencer and Ashley as a couple… But that could never happen because Aiden is… Aiden. So basically I said he unleashed his feelings for Ashley at their Junior prom. That way the flashback matches up.****Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.?

Flashbacks and Dreams are in _**italics**_

_S_o with that said…enjoy :D

**Chapter 7**

Spencer positions the last tray on the fully decorated table. She checks to see what time it is. She gasps as she observes how late it is and Ashley isn't downstairs yet. She walks to the bottom of the stairs and yells up, "Ashley! What is taking you so long?"

Ashley strides out of the bathroom, looking utterly gorgeous. She slowly steps down the stairs to watch Spencer's mouth drop to the floor. "It takes me a long time to look like this," Ashley informs. Ashley steps down onto the same level of Spencer.

Spencer can't get her eyes off of Ashley. _Ashley, you're so beautiful. You're so hard to resist looking like this. What were you thinking? _Spencer smiles. _Should I kiss her? I mean I don't think she'll reject it, right?_ Spencer leisurely moves towards Ashley with her hands open as wide as Ashley's waist to grab it. She inches towards Ashley, aiming to give her a kiss. She gets within a few inches of Ashley's smoking hot body, but backs away. She puts her hand on her head. She knows kissing her isn't going to be a smart decision to make. Ashley might not have wanted it and she didn't want to make her run away. She directs her eyes to pay attention to something else other than Ashley, to analyze what a stupid thing she was about to do. Spencer confesses, "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

Spencer turns around to march into the kitchen, with full embarrassment of the situation. Ashley perceives Spencer's disappointment. Before the distance between them gets to two feet, Ashley grabs Spencer's arm and pleads, "Wait, Spencer." She manages to get Spencer's eyes to meet hers while still holding her hand. Without any audio, Ashley closes her eyes as she dives into Spencer's face. Ashley brings her arm and places it directly onto Spencer's waist. She lowers her other hand down to straddle Spencer, as their faces get closer. Their lips smack each other, but in a romantic way. Ashley makes her movements small, but passionate. Spencer swings her arms up and wraps them gently around Ashley's neck. Ashley places small kisses on Spencer's lips and then is broken away by Spencer's choice. Ashley opens her eyes swiftly, worrying if she did something wrong. "Are you okay? Did I do something wrong? I can use my tongue if you'd lick." Ashley's face becomes red as she scrambles her words out. "I'm sorry…I…it just slipped out. I meant _like_." She pauses a few moments while Spencer stares deeply into Ashley's eyes as she rambles. Ashley clears her throat and then continues, "I can use my tongue- it's not broken or anything. I just wanted to take it slow. This is pretty much my first kiss with you and I wanted to remember it."

Spencer snickers, "Oh believe me. I know you can use your tongue." Ashley understands what she meant and instantly becomes proud. Spencer conveys her hand upward to be at the same level of Ashley's forehead. She pulls Ashley's silky hair behind her head and says, "I just wanted to see the beautiful face I was kissing." Spencer simpers before leaning in to kiss Ashley's lips again. Spencer opens her mouth wide enough for Ashley to slide her tongue in. Their kisses become hard and fast until there is a "ding-dong". Spencer reluctantly pulls away from Ashley's lips and says, "That must be my parents- I better get it before they start obnoxiously ringing it." Spencer smiles as Ashley lets go of her, but she hopes not for too long. Spencer opens up the door to overly ecstatic parents.

"Hey guys!" Paula and Arthur scream in unison, acting like they haven't seen them in years.

"Hey!" Spencer responds with open arms, trying to be as excited as them, but doesn't measure up. Ashley stands back, smiling at the scene, but doesn't put herself out there. Spencer turns to Ashley and sees she's uncomfortable. She smiles and reassures Ashley, "It's okay Ash, really." Spencer holds her hand out, hoping for Ashley to grab it. Ashley hesitates, but decides to accept it because she is going to meet a lot of new people today and she couldn't act like she is already.

Ashley puts her hand out to shake Arthur's hand and greets him, "Hello. It's nice to meet you."

Arthur goes along with it and replies genuinely, "It's nice to meet you too, Ashley. I'm Arthur and this is, my wife and Spencer's mom, Paula." He points towards Paula.

"Nice to meet you," Ashley shakes her hand too with a smile. "Actually, I've heard a lot about you already. Spencer told me you're a doctor and you saved the guy with the car and the drinking problem…"

"You mean the guy you got into an accident with?" Spencer asks.

A light bulb went on for Ashley, "Yea!"

"Oh yea," Paula responds remembrance and guilt. "Ashley, I know this probably will mean nothing to you, but if I could've I would've been your doctor when you came in. But I took one look at you and lost control. I was too emotional to take care of you, so another doctor took care of you and I took care of the other person-turned out to be the drunk that hit you." She pauses. "I don't know what Spencer has told you, but I didn't want you to think I didn't take care of you because I didn't like you. That's not the case at all. I'm sorry I'm just ranting on about this."

Ashley grabs Paula's hand and in a reassuring voice, "You have nothing to be sorry for. You did what you had to. I'm here now, aren't I? So let's party!"

**  
Everyone is finally here and it's been only a couple minutes since. Spencer soon crams everyone between the family room and the kitchen to make an announcement. She grabs a glass and fork to capture everyone's attention. She clears her throat a couple of times, making sure she doesn't stammer on her words. She's never had to make a speech in front of so many people—not even in school. She speaks loudly, "I have an announcement to make. Well not an announcement- more of a simple suggestion."

"Spencer-no. You always come up with the most bizarre 'suggestions'," Paula interferes, bending her fingers at "suggestions" to exaggerate.

"Paula," Arthur exhausts.

"Oh, stop it Mom. This one is better. There is actually a cause and hopefully a good effect. I think Ashley should have a good ten minutes with everyone, in a secluded area, to get to know everyone here." Spencer produces a fake smile and points her thumb up and down to see what everybody thinks about the idea.

"I'm up to it. It sounds like fun," Ashley puts it out there.

"Good," Spencer smiles and looks at her. She looks around and asks, "Anyone else?"

"Yea," bunches of people say at one time.

"Great," Spencer grins. She points to the dining room and says, "Ash, you can go into the dining room and do it there if that's alright."

"Yea it's fine. It doesn't bother me."

"Okay, then pick someone to start off with then we'll go from there."

Ashley scans the two rooms and sees someone she remembers. _Madison? Oh my God. Definitely her. That's the only person I remember._ She blurts out, "Madison."

*******************************************************************  
"So we had that ridiculous fight over Aiden?" Ashley asks in shock.

"Yea. Can you believe that?" Madison scuffs. "But I'm glad we both realized how stupid it was to get in that fight only over a boy."

"Yea," says Ashley as she laughs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"I had a **really** hard time accepting Spencer begin gay and her relationship with you. I was a monster- I was so terrible. When you get the chance, when you two are alone, ask her what happened the night Glen got busted buying drugs," Paula says firmly as she wags her finger at Ashley.

"I will," Ashley promises. _Something must've changed, obviously because she wouldn't be here supporting Spencer or me. _"What made you change?"

"I realized how much you two loved each other and how you made her so happy. That was the real Spencer. I'm thrilled to have you a part of the family. You and Spencer are perfect for each other. "

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Hi, I'm Glen," he waves enthusiastically. Ashley smiles evilly at the sound of who this is. "What? Do I have something on my face? My teeth?"

With an "I've-got-blackmail-material-waving-around-in-my-hand" face she says, "I just got the scoop on you."

"What _exactly_ did you find out?"

"You where a druggie," she reveals.

"Where'd you hear that from?!" Glen asks concernedly.

"Your mom."

"Ugh Mom. But that was a long time ago. I don't do that anymore. I have a wife and a baby to take care of."

Ashley listens and responds with, "That's good you've got your priorities straight."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Kyla walks up to table where Ashley is sitting and greets her, "Hey."

"It's you again. It's good to see a familiar face," Ashley proclaims.

"It's good to see you, too. So how have you been?" Kyla inquires.

"I'm doing okay. I'm still trying to get used to the all of the people in my life. There's so many," she exaggerates.

"There's not that many. Besides, they're all fantastic people and you should be grateful to know all of them. You're really lucky to have such supportive friends and family- especially Spencer," she enlightens.

"I know. Spencer's been so wonderful through all of this. She's really an amazing person."

********************************************************************  
Spencer walks into the cool breeze in the house, only to find Ashley sitting at the table by herself. She has her hand holding up her head. She seems to have her eyes closed, but Spencer maneuvers slowly to see if they are. "Ash?" Spencer asks quietly. "Are you okay? Do you feel alright?"

A monotone voice comes out, "Yea I'm fine."

Spencer knows there's something wrong because otherwise she would be outside, being the life of the party. Spencer sits down next to Ashley and puts her hand tenderly onto her supporting arm. She rubs her arm gently and says, "Ash, I know there's something wrong. Talk to me—I'm all ears."

Ashley lowers her hand and reveals her face. She fixes her eyes on the other end of the table and says, "I don't know. I'm not feeling too well. I have a feeling something's wrong- something's missing, but I don't know what." She turns her head to look at Spencer.

Spencer puts the backside of her hand on Ashley's head to check for a fever. She informs Ashley, "Well, you don't have a fever. What hurts? You're stomach? If it is then it could've been the food. If it is then I gotta tell everyone to not eat it—I don't want anyone going home sick."

"No, Spence. The food's fine, believe me. Nothing hurts—no body parts at least. I'm not sure what's wrong."

"Well you don't look well. Why don't you go lay in bed for a little and see how you are after that," Spencer advises.

"Okay. Tell everyone I'm sorry for not being present at my own party. And if I don't come back down in time before the party's over, tell them I had a great time and wish them all safe rides home," she says as she gets up to push her chair into the table.

"Don't worry, I will."

*

Ashley removes her jewelry and lays it on her nightstand. She plops herself on the bed and kicks her shoes off, landing in random parts of the room. Ashley slides down to get comfortable and gradually closes her eyes. Ashley takes a deep breath in hopes of getting herself to sleep. Questions begin to scatter her mind. _There's something missing, but what is it? I feel like some BODY is missing, but who?_ She takes one more deep breath. I just need to relax and then I'll feel better, right? She soon slowly slips into a deep sleep.

***  
_Music that would make anyone want to get up and dance, is playing in the background. Ashley twirls Spencer around her with her fingertips. Smiles are plastered on both of their faces. Everything was going great for them. Their relationship was very strong. Spencer's mom was very accepting of Ashley and Spencer's relationship. Best of all, there was no drama affecting their lives.__**you**__ and no one else," Ashley shouts back. Ashley tries to hold Spencer's hand to show she's serious._

The current song coalesces with the one of the last few songs of the night, and it's a slow one. Ashley and Spencer look into each other's eyes, knowing just how much they care for each other. Ashley pulls Spencer's body close to her with her hand. She releases her hand and grasps Spencer's waist. Spencer wraps her around Ashley's neck and lays her head on her shoulder. Ashley does the same and puts her head comfortably on her shoulder. They both close their eyes, slowly shuffling their feet on the dance floor.

Ashley picks her up from Spencer's shoulder, causing Spencer to immediately become troubled. In a concerned tone Spencer asks, "What's wrong?"

Ashley stares into Spencer's eyes, never blinking and says, "I love you so much, Spencer. You know that, right?"

Spencer says sternly, "Yes, I know. I love you, too. I always will."

"You know that I care about you and would never let anyone hurt you, right?" another serious question darts at Spencer.

"I do, really, Ash," Spencer smiles, trying to comfort Ashley's obvious discomfort. "Are you alright? Where is all of this coming from?"

"Well I wanted you to know how much I love and care for you," she blinks her eyes, but keeps them beamed at Spencer's.

"I love you, too," she says seriously. Spencer can't comprehend why she's acting like this. She briefly suspects Ashley knows there's something wrong, but doesn't want to jump to conclusions. "Well, I'm a little thirsty so I'm gonna get a drink. I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Spencer walks away to proceed to the bar where Glen is leaning. Kyla is heading towards the bar, also. Aiden comes rushing up to Ashley and asks, "Can I talk to for just a second?" Before Ashley can answer, he grabs her arm and pulls her away to a secluded area, but both are still visible to the people on the dance floor. They stop quickly and Aiden blurts out, "I don't know how to say this but…"

"What? What is it Aiden? You look like you've just killed somebody, " she declares.

"I'm in love with you," he says seriously while looking into her eyes.

"What?" she asks, baffled.

"Everyday I seek to be with you, even if it's just for a minute. When I'm with you I feel like I'm on top of the world. My life is nothing without you," Aiden says while grabbing a hold of Ashley's hand.

"Aiden, I don't even know what to say," she says, flabbergasted.

"You don't have to say anything. Just stay…" he slows his words to lean in for a deep kiss. Ashley knows this is not right, but she doesn't to pull away from him because she doesn't want to hurt him. He is her best friend and she doesn't want to do that to him.

Spencer shuffles across the dance floor, looking for Ashley, but she is nowhere to be seen. She walks towards the parking lot and spins around hoping to find her—unfortunately she did. Spencer almost faints at the sight of the two of them kissing. Her heart shatters completely, falling to a million pieces on the ground, waiting for Ashley to stomp on them a little more. She darts towards Aiden and Ashley and startles them. The three of them look at each other, too shocked, broken, or guilty to say anything. Spencer finally yells, "Ashley how could you do this to me—to us?" Tears begin to plunge down her face. "You said you loved me and cared about me so much and then you go and do this?!" She stops herself. No one jumps in to defend themselves because they're too frightened. "How long has this been going on?"

"Spencer, I do. I love you so much and that will never change," she chokes on her words because she begins to cry from the pain she's just caused her girlfriend. Ashley grabs her arm, but Spencer fights her off and folds her arms. Aiden runs off into the parking lot, distraught at what he just caused. Ashley yells, "Aiden! Where are you going?"

He turns around and shouts back, "I don't know! I'm just going!" He turns around and continues slowly. He turns back to the girls. "I'm so sorry—for everything. I shouldn't have done it." A mysterious red car drives into the parking lot, slowly, creepily. A small pistol gradually appears out of the window and Ashley catches it with her eye. The gun points towards Aiden's back. Ashley yells to get his attention, "Aiden! Watch out!"

Before he can turn around, the gun is cocked and shot right in his back. His limp body crashes to the floor. "Oh my God!" Ashley screams and drops to the floor. The shooting doesn't stop there. Pretty soon the gunfires are aimed at the dance floor, injuring and possibly killing people.

"Ashley get down!" Spencer demands as she grabs Ashley, forcing her to hit the ground in cover. Spencer covers Ashley's head to prevent her from hearing the shots being fired. The shooting stops after ten bullet shots.

Ambulances race in a couple minutes after the shooting. For some, they were too late.

Spencer and Ashley sit in the waiting room, waiting for Aiden's diagnosis. "Ashley I want to talk to you," Spencer demands.

Ashley's apprehensive, "Not now Spence. I'm worried about Aiden. Do you think he's okay?"

"Ashley! I understand you're concerned about Aiden- I am too, but why were you kissing him?!"

"I didn't kiss him. He kissed me."

"You didn't seem to refuse him or get him to stop. It was almost like you liked it," Spencer sneers.

Ashley's mouth drops, " I can't believe that's how you look at me. You really think I wanted to kiss him?!"

"Unless you can give me an explanation as to why you were kissing him in the first place, then yes," Spencer folds her arms.

Ashley decides to confess, "He told me he is in love with me. Then he just kissed me. I'll be honest; I didn't reject it because I didn't want to lose him. He would've made me feel guilty if I just abandoned him. What was I supposed to do?"

"So you're pretty much telling me that your relationship with Aiden is more important than our relationship?!"

"No! Spencer I love

"How can I believe you? You even told me yourself, you two fell in love with each other and you never felt you had closure to your relationship with him. You know what, I'm gonna go home and let you think about this. Let me know when you've figured out who you love." Spencer springs from her seat and advances to the exit of the hospital.

*  
Ashley, through a lot of time, had to earn Spencer's love back. They spent the whole summer apart from each other that year. Spencer wanted a break for a little while from Ashley. She felt it was a good choice. If they were meant to be together, somehow, someway they would get together again.

***  
Spencer walks up the stairs to their bedroom to check on Ashley. She little by little opens the door and peaks her head in. She whispers to Ashley, "Ashley?" She flips the switch to turn the light on. She notices Ashley sleeping contentedly on the bed. Spencer walks over to Ashley and sits on the bed gently. Spencer strokes her fingertips on Ashley's forehead in a soothing way. She whispers, "Hey Ash. I know it's late, but I want to know how you feel." She pulls Ashley's hair away from her face to expose her face.

Ashley's eyes open slowly. She groggily says, "Aiden?" Spencer gazes at Ashley, puzzled. _Why is she looking for Aiden?_ Ashley's opens her eyes, disappointed to not find Aiden next to her. She stares at Spencer and clearly asks, "Where's Aiden?" Spencer doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to have to tell her again that he died. _Wait, did she just lose her memory again?! Please let that not be true._ "He didn't survive, did he? No, he didn't. You already told me," Ashley says mournfully.

"Did you have a flashback? Is that why you're asking for him?"

"Yup."

"When did you flashback to?"

"Prom. It seemed like Junior year."

"Oh," Spencer says. She follows up sarcastically, "What a great night that was."

"Spencer, I want to visit him-I mean his grave. It's around here, isn't it?"

***  
"Spencer, I want you to come with me," Ashley pleads.

"I will, but if at any point, you want me to leave, I will," Spencer encourages.

"Ok," Ashley replies plainly. Spencer and Ashley get out of the immobile car and progress towards his headstone.

Spencer guides Ashley to where he is buried. She points her hand to where he lies. Ashley slowly walks around the headstone to view the side with the inscription. Ashley says peacefully, "Hey Aiden." She kneels down on the ground to lie the flowers alongside the stone. "God, I never thought I'd be doing this, especially not with you. I'm just dropping by to say hello-that's all really. I miss you Aiden. I miss your support. I miss how you used to cheer me up, especially on my worst of days. I loved you Aiden, a lot, but only as a friend. How come you couldn't accept that and let it be?" Tears commence to form. "Why did you have tell me you were in love with me? Why did you cause unnecessary pain for Spencer and me? You hurt Spencer! How could you do that to her? I don't even care if you hurt me because that's one thing, but you went right ahead and just broke her heart by kissing me. She didn't and _doesn't_ deserve that. Can I just have some answers!" Ashley screams, slamming her hand on the headstone. She puts her arms as support for her forehead as she leans on the stone. Spencer sees the pain and anger in Ashley's eyes. She puts one foot out to walk over to her and hold her, but she withdraws. Though she does want to comfort Ashley and support her, she feels it'll be better if Ashley got it all out, without Spencer's help. Ashley continues to express her thoughts, "God, Aiden why did you have to die? You were too young." Ashley picks her head up to look at the sky. She sucks in her tears and begins laughing. "Ha. I must be crazy. I'm yelling at you and yet, I'm mourning your death. How screwed up is that?" She stops and looks at the ground. She wipes away her tears and stops crying. "I'm sorry Aiden." Ashley gets up from the ground and walks towards Spencer, sniffling. She looks straight at Spencer's eyes and says, "Thank you for bringing me here. It means a lot." She hugs Spencer tightly to show her affection. "I care about you and I would never let anyone hurt you—ever," Ashley states sincerely.

____________________________________________________________________


	9. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the feedback, as always guys. :) **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Flashbacks are in **_**italics**_

**WARNING: flashback contains smut**

**Chapter 8**

It's Monday, which means the weekend is over and it's back to work for Spencer. She's been dreading this day for a while, but only because she's reluctant to leave Ashley alone, especially with the flashbacks she's been having lately.

Spencer set an alarm on her phone, last night, to wake her up in the morning. The vibrations of the phone on the wood nightstand cause Spencer to jump right out of her sleep. Spencer sits up to grab the phone and shut the alarm off. She looks over at the other side of the bed to see if Ashley is awake. _How did that not wake her up? _Spencer squirms out of their bed, letting Ashley sleep serenely. Spencer takes her shower, finds a decent outfit to work in, and is ready for work sooner than she realized. She makes a mental note of what she needs for work. She hasn't gone to work in over a week so she's got to get back in her routine. _Keys. Cell phone. Folders. Paperwork. Anything else? Oh, I gotta let Ash know I'm leaving. _

In a soothing tone Spencer whispers to Ashley, "Ash, I'm heading off to work. I'll be back around six, but if you need anything, just call. But if for some reason you can't reach me, call my parents. I left the phone number on the counter where the phone is. I'll see you later." She leans over the bed and kisses Ashley's forehead gently. The kiss startles Ashley and wakes her up.

Ashley inhales deeply while stretching out her arms and legs. She blinks a few times and then recognizes Spencer's face. She wasn't quite conscience when Spencer was talking to her so she asks Spencer, "Did you say something?"

Spencer restates her speech, "Yea. I'm heading off to work and I'll be back around six. If you need anything, you call me, but if you can't reach me, call my parents. I left their number by the phone. Is there anything you need now?"

Ashley yawns and closes her eyes to fall back asleep, but speaks before she doses off, "No I'm fine. Bye Spence."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Around 10:00 am_

Ashley sets her bowl of cereal on the coffee table. She situates herself on the couch, first, before doing anything else. She picks up the remote and starts flipping through the channels. She passes by a show she used to watch a lot when it was originally airing. She shouts in excitement, "Boy Meets World!" her mouth opens wide in shock of what's in front of her. "That show is so old! I can't believe they still run it!" _They shouldn't have stopped it in the first place. I loved that show. Cory and Topanga were so cute together. _She holds the bowl in one hand while shoveling a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. The doorbell rings. She mumbles loudly in response, "Who the hell could that be?"

On the way to the door, she cleans her mouth of milk and swallows the cereal. She doesn't bother to look through the peephole before opening the door. Ashley is not quite dressed, so to speak. Her body is covered in all of the proper places, but there is still skin available to see from the human eye. Ashley releases the door to reveal a deliveryman at the door with a big brown box. She opens the screen door and asks, "Can I help you?"

The young man wipes excessive drool sliding from his mouth. In embarrassment, he shuffles through his papers trying to look for the name of the receiver for the package. Ashley looks at him, waiting for an answer. He finds the paper and in nervousness says, "Yes. Is there a Spencer Davies here?"

"Depends. Why do you want to know?" _I don't trust this guy. He looks like he's trying to get up in _my business_. Well, I really don't trust him because he's a "delivery guy." Mom dated a delivery guy and that didn't turn out well at all. _

He clears his throat, still seeming to be nervous, "I need someone to sign off for this package."

Ashley snaps back quickly, "How do I know you're not some creepy guy who stalks people late at night. Or that this isn't just a way to get my signature to somehow connect it with my credit card and then…who knows!"

The guy was caught by surprise by that one. He's never been asked those kinds of questions. He opens his mouth to respond, but is inaudible. _I got to see if he's legit. I'll call Spencer to see if she ordered something. _Ashley says to the guy, "Could you just wait here a second? I'm gonna call someone to see if you're…you."

This guy is now totally confused by the whole situation. He's been to this house before, but he never got to meet Ashley because she was always out of the house when packages seem to come. _This girl is absolutely insane. What? Does she think I'm going to kidnap her or something? _

Ashley grabs the phone and races back to the front door to keep an eye on him. _Oh, I forgot the phone number. _"Wait right here just one more second," she demands. She races back into the kitchen and grabs Spencer's cell phone number. _Get her parent's number, too- just in case. _She runs back to the door, huffing and says, "A ha! Now let me just call this number and then we'll be set—or not." She forms a fake smile to show him. He lets out a big ball of air, analyzing the situation he is in.

_Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring…_Ashley begins bouncing up and down, "Come on, pick up!" _Hi, you've reached Spencer's phone- leave a message_. Ashley looks at the guy's expression and isn't pleased. He seems frustrated and very impatient at the whole ordeal. Ashley reassures him, "Don't worry. You can wait a few more seconds." Ashley begins dialing the number of Spencer's parents house.

Ring…Ring... "Hello?" A masculine voice says on the other end.

"Hi. Um… Mr. Carlin? I'm sorry to call you, but there's this guy at the front door who says he has a package someone has to sign for, but how am I supposed to know he's not lying?" Ashley taps her finger on her leg, patiently waiting for an answer.

"_Hmm. I'm pretty sure Spencer always requests the same delivery guy for every package. His name is…Nick? I think its Nick," Arthur says. _

Ashley asks the delivery guy, "What's your name?"

"Nick?" he answers with a befuddled look.

"Good answer," She says sharply.

Ashley talks to Arthur, "His name is Nick. Thanks for helping me out. I almost had this kid tied up to a chair with duck tape over his mouth and everything."

_Arthur laughs, "It's no problem. Ashley, if you need anything else, feel free to call again."_

"Ok. I will. Bye."

"_Goodbye."_

Ashley hangs up the phone and immediately begins to apologize to Nick, "I'm so sorry for all of that it's just my mom always told me to never trust Deliverymen or Mailmen as a matter of fact. She never really told me why, but I guess it's a long story."

"Well since everything is all clear now, can you please sign this?" he hands over an electronic device where Ashley signs her name.

Ashley asks, "Do you know what's in here?"

With honesty he says, "No, I don't. I'm just the deliveryman." She lends the device back to him. "Have a good day, Miss. And don't pull off any shenanigans you did today. You really gave me a scare. I didn't know if you were gonna pull a gun on me or not."

Ashley's eyes widen like quarters and she admits, "NO. I would never do that. But you have a good day, too. And for your sake, I hope you don't run into another crazy person like me."

----------------------------------------------------

_Around 1:00 pm_

Ashley sits on a kitchen chair, facing the package with her knees up to her chin, contemplating on what to do with the brown box. The package is on the floor, waiting to be opened. Ashley rests her head on her hand, which is supported by the table.

She releases her hand to tap her fingers on the table, arguing with herself on what to do. _Do I open it or do I just leave it? _She tilts her head, still looking at the container. _I mean, even though __**she **__ordered it, everything that's hers is mine and everything that's mine is hers because we're married, right? _She lets out a big sigh and finally says, "Oh, what the hell." She picks herself up from the seat to find a sharp object in the supply drawer. In amazement, "What? No scissors? What kind of house doesn't have scissors where they should be?"She decides to grab a pen, instead. She, with full force, thrusts the pen deep into the box, causing the tape to fracture.

Ashley extorts the pen from the tape and begins to slash open the box with her hands. The tape makes a popping sound at each end of the box. She turns over the last flap of the box to reveal…bras. She screams, "What tha!"

"Wow. I haven't even been with her a month and I already get to see her undergarments," Ashley smirks. "This is so…hot!" She jostles the bras to count all of them. _One, two, three, four!_ _They look like they could fit me._ She smiles wickedly due to an idea that popped into her mind. "Spencer Davies, this was a **very **bad idea."

She shoves the bras back in and closes the box to the best of her ability. Ashley races upstairs with the box in her hands. She walks into their closet and places the box strategically, hiding it from Spencer. She closes the closet and proceeds to put on real clothes.

--------------------------------------------------

_5 minutes later_

Ashley is in the kitchen, rummaging around for money. Eventually, she comes by an empty coffee container that says: EMERGENCY MONEY. Ashley argues with herself on whether she should take it or not. _This is necessarily an emergency because I can't find any other money because Spence didn't leave me with any. At least, I don't think so. _She pops open the lid to find a couple hundred dollars in there, mostly in 20's. Ashley grabs one 20-dollar bill and seals the lid back on. She snatches the keys that are hanging and races out the door to the car. She's headed to Target.

----------------------------------------------------

_At Target_

_Where are they? I was just here a couple days ago, how can I not remember where anything is?_ Ashley decides to ask an employee for help. She walks up behind a male employee and asks, "Excuse me? Can you tell me where the men's dress shirts are? Or button up shirts?"

The young man turns around and answers, "They're over on aisle nine."

Ashley is startled by who turned around to answer her. She checks the nametag before anything else. _Ace. What a name. He looks exactly like Nick. It's probably his twin. _She asks, shrugging her eyebrows, "Have we met before?"

He gives a confused look with a smile and replies, "No. I'm sure I would've remembered." He winks. She understands that and immediately scuffs in disgust.

She marches away, going towards aisle nine._ I guess twins not only look alike, they think alike, too._

_-------------------------------------------------------_

_Around 7:30 pm_

Spencer yells into the house as she walks through the door. "Ash, I'm home!"

Ashley is lying comfortably on the couch, snoring away, but not loudly enough for Spencer to hear. Spencer hears the sound of the TV going. She frees her bag from her hands and takes off her jacket. She flings her jacket to land on a piece of furniture in the dining room. She lets out one big sigh as she hangs up her keys on the hook. She looks around the family room to see if Ashley was on one of the couches visible to her eye- she wasn't. She peaks to look at the couch that is tucked underneath the counter. She asks slowly and subtly, "Aaash?"

There is no response so Spencer walks around to find Ashley sleeping on the couch. Spencer smiles at how comfortable she looks. Spencer grabs a blanket from the basket to cover Ashley with. Spencer shuts off the TV to leave Ashley in peace. The consistent noise of the TV was what kept Ashley asleep, now that it has stopped; she wakes up to Spencer standing in front of her. She says woozily, "Hey, Spence. How was work?"

Spencer turns around and answers, "It was fine. How was your day?"

Ashley lies, "It was ok. Nothing too special happened around here."

Spencer frowns, "I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to stay here until we figure out what you want to do about your music."

Ashley sits up, rubbing her eyes and says, "We can figure that out later. First, lets figure out what's for dinner. I'm starving."

-------------------------------------------------------------

_Around 10:30 pm_

The only sound going throughout the room is the rustling of pages by Spencer. She sits up in her bed, working on paperwork for her clients. She removes her glasses to take the focus off of the paperwork. She yawns deeply, rubbing her eyes. She blinks a few times to come to look at the time. _It's 10:30 already? It's gonna be a looong night._

Ashley is in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. Except this was going to be a different type of "bed." Ashley yells from the bathroom, "Hey Spencer!"

Spencer replies, "What?"

Ashley opens the door slowly she says, "Would you mind telling me how I look?"

Ashley leans against one side of the doorframe like a model whose posing. On her is a men's blue button-up top that is partially buttoned up. Designated parts were left uncovered. Underneath the shirt is one of Spencer's new bras- the pink one with black lace. She found matching "bottoms" to the bra at Target.

Spencer's mouth drops. _Ashley Davies! Ha-ha you took my bra. You're looking so hot in it baby. _

Ashley asks, "Do you like it?" She stops. She begins to trip over her words, "I mean I could've gotten it in another color. I just thought blue would look nice."

Spencer keeps her eyes on Ashley as she drops the paperwork to the floor on her side. She assures, "You look gorgeous in anything."

Ashley walks slowly over to the bed. She jumps on the bed and crawls towards Spencer. She says, "Well how would you like to see it off of me?"

With her mouth still open from shock, Spencer looks all over Ashley's body, "I think I would die from the heat wave your body would cause."

Ashley inches closer to Spencer, but not touching her yet. She demands, "Take it off."

Spencer does what she's told and begins to unbutton her shirt gradually. She gets to the last button, but stops. She looks up at Ashley and says seriously, "Ash, you don't have to do this. I can wait until your ready."

Ashley takes care of the last button and says, "I'm sure I'm ready." Ashley takes Spencer's hand to guide her to a part of the bed with more room. Ashley plows Spencer down, but in a romantic way. Ashley lies on top of Spencer, stroking her hair away from her face. She asks Spencer, "You know why I'm ready?"

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Spencer smiles and says, "I love you, too." She pulls Ashley's hair away from her face. Spencer pulls Ashley's mouth into hers and they begin to kiss passionately.

Though, within a few seconds, Ashley is knocked out into another flashback. Ashley's limp body falls onto Spencer. Spencer asks, "Ashley?" She checks her pulse. She feels Ashley's air breathing on her neck. She asks again, "Ashley?" Spencer gently flips her over to see her eyes are closed. Spencer immediately knows what's up. "What a perfect time to have a flashback. Well, hope it's a good one. Night, Ash." Spencer kisses her cheek and moves to her side of the bed to fall asleep.

***

_April 2006 _

_Spencer and Ashley are sitting on the family room couch. Spencer has her head on Ashley's shoulder. Ashley has her right arm over Spencer's shoulder. They're comfortably in their positions as they watch TV. They're watching _The Notebook. _They both fell in love with this movie, together, because they could loosely base it on their relationship. Paula was vicious by refusing to let Spencer be with Ashley, but they snuck away a few times to be together. _

_Ashley quietly says to Spencer, "Hey guess what today is."_

_Spencer looks up at Ashley and asks, "What?"_

_Ashley says playfully, "It's our 6 month anniversary, silly."_

_Spencer releases herself from Ashley's arm and asks in shock, "Are you serious? You're kidding, right?"_

_Ashley assures, "No, I'm not kidding."_

_Spencer frowns, "I didn't even remember because of all the things going on with my mom lately, it's just been too much to even comprehend." Spencer pauses. "Ash, I didn't even get you a present. I feel really bad now." _

_Ashley reels Spencer back into to her arms. She eases Spencer, "Don't worry. Just having you here, with me, is good enough." Ashley kisses the top of Spencer's head. She waits a few moments and says, "And you know what?" _

_Spencer doesn't lift her head, "What?"_

"_I love you," Ashley says, holding one deep breath. _

_Spencer picks up her head, looking at Ashley in shock. Ashley had never said those words before, let alone mean them. Spencer says back, "I love you, too. So much." Spencer lays a kiss on Ashley's lips passionately. _

_The two of them get into the kiss, causing Spencer to sit up completely to have more mobility. Ashley places her hand on Spencer's cheek to embrace the feeling of her face. Spencer moves her hands to hold Ashley's ribs. _

_Soon enough, they're using tongue—and a lot of it. They breathe heavily as they move in and _

_out of each other's mouth quickly. Ashley runs her hand through Spencer's hair to move it away from her face. _

_Spencer breaks away from Ashley's soft lips to catch her breath. She looks at Ashley seriously and says in a monotone voice, "I want to make love to you." _

_Ashley doesn't answer with words, but with kisses. She kisses Spencer with small, quick pecks on the lips for a few seconds. She then sits up from the couch and reaches out her hand to bring Spencer into her bedroom. _

_*_

_Ashley stops Spencer in her tracks, but to only protect her. She says, "Spencer, don't feel like you __**have **__to do this if you're not ready."_

_She assures Ashley, "I'm ready, Ash. I may not know what the hell I'm doing, but I know that I love you." _

_Ashley kisses Spencer after that, romantically._

_Within a few moments, Ashley slides her tongue into Spencer's mouth. Without breaking their lips apart, Ashley removes her top, leaving only her bra. _

_Spencer splits away from Ashley's lips to examine Ashley's bra. Spencer's mouth drops slightly due to the astonishment of what she's looking at. _This is surreal. _Spencer gently puts her hand on Ashley's chest, getting used to the feeling of a girl's instead of a guy's. Spencer almost reaches the point of hyperventilation by breathing heavily, but directs her attention to Ashley. Spencer plows Ashley onto the bed, making them crash hard. _

_Spencer picks herself up from touching Ashley with her arms. She supports herself with her arms as she lets her hair just hang in front of her, still kissing Ashley. Ashley pulls back Spencer's hair from her face. Ashley shifts her lips to move away from Spencer's. _

_She grips Spencer's hand to guide it towards her pussy. Spencer unbuttons Ashley's jeans and slowly slides them off of her legs. _

_Spencer sees Ashley's panties, but rips them off, instead. _

_Spencer crashes her lips into Ashley's. They move their mouths widely, together adding more passion to their kisses. _

_She glides her fingertips over Ashley's stomach, making her shiver. Words are finally spoken, "Does that feel good, Ash?" _

"_Yes." _

_Spencer lowers her hand more to meet with Ashley's sobbing wet pussy. Spencer slowly enters a finger into Ashley. "You're so wet. I love it." Ashley immediately closes her eyes, embracing the great feeling of Spencer fucking her. She moves her finger in and out quickly, causing Ashley to breath deeply. Spencer asks a rhetorical question, "It feels good, doesn't it?"_

"_Fuck yea Spencer." Spencer slows down for a second. "Don't stop baby. It feels so good, please don't stop." _

_Spencer adds another finger, creating more of a sensation. "Oh my God, Spence. Keep going." Spencer obeys and begins to thrust her fingers in deep, hard, and fast. "Spence…I'm gonna…"_

"_Almost there baby." _

"_SPENCE."_

"_One more sec-"_

_Ashley has an orgasm that causes her to quiver and say, "Ahh…" _

_Spencer crashes onto Ashley, breathing greatly. She places her dried out lips onto Ashley's. She pulls away and says, "I love you so much, Ash." _

"_I love you, too Spencer." Ashley flips Spencer over so she can be on top now. "Let me show you how much." Ashley rips off Spencer's top and bottoms within a minute. _

_Ashley kisses Spencer's stomach, allowing her to get as close to an orgasm without reaching one. Spencer breathes heavily, alerting Ashley to begin her business. _

_Ashley doesn't take her time. She immediately plunges her face into Spencer's soaking pussy and begins to lick it. Spencer is so hot due to many factors: Ashley's fucking her brains out, Ashley's hot, and she just made Ashley have an extraordinary orgasm. _

_Ashley takes long strides, licking Spencer's clit. It doesn't take long for Spencer to reach her climax because Ashley knew what she was doing and made her cum quickly._

_Spencer has a powerful orgasm that causes her to shake uncontrollably. _

_Ashley moves up to Spencer's lips to kiss. Its Ashley's turn to ask a rhetorical question, "So how was it?"_

"_Do you even have to ask?" She catches her breath. "It was amazing. Absolutely amazing." _

"_Good because it was for me, too," Ashley smiles. _

_***_

_1:30 am_

Ashley awakes from her flashback to Spencer cuddling her. She flips over to be eye-to-eye with Spencer. She kisses Spencer, purposefully trying to wake her up to show her how she feels about her.

Spencer pushes away Ashley to ask, "What's the occasion?"

"Because I love you and I want to show you how much."

Ashley and Spencer continue to kiss until they eventually fulfill what they wanted to earlier in the evening.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


	10. Chapter 9

**Flashbacks are in **_**italics **_

**WARNING: For language **

**Chapter 9**

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

_Ashley awakes from her flashback to Spencer cuddling her. She flips over to be eye-to-eye with Spencer. She kisses Spencer, purposefully trying to wake her up to show her how she feels about her._

_Spencer pushes away Ashley to ask, "What's the occasion?"_

_"Because I love you and I want to show you how much."_

_Ashley and Spencer continue to kiss until they eventually fulfill what they wanted to earlier in the evening_.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_That night_

_Spencer walks up to Ashley who looks like she's aggravated with something. She pushes and pulls, back and forth to try to open her locker, but it won't budge. Ashley turns around to see Spencer watching and waiting for her. She asks rudely, "What do you want?" _

_Spencer stutters, "Can you help me find Science Lab 3?"_

_Ashley opens the locker while she is looking at Spencer. All of her books come flying out as she races to try and catch some. She lets out one really big groan. Spencer feels her distress in the air and decides to help her pick up her books. By accident, Spencer knocks over the coffee in Ashley's hands, creating even more of a mess. Ashley looks at Spencer and rudely says, "Why don't you just get the hell out of here?" _

_Spencer is taken back by the comment. Spencer slams Ashley's things that were in her hands, on the floor. She replies to the comment with, "I don't understand what your problem is, but I hope you fucking figure it out." Spencer storms off._

_Ashley immediately feels bad for angering another person, unnecessarily. She picks up her things to slam them into her locker and storm off as well. _

_***_

_Every now and then Ashley used to, on the way to her car, go to the boys' gym to stop by to see Aiden. He would either be in there to work out or play basketball. Even though they had already broken up, Ashley and Aiden maintained a strong friendship. Madison couldn't see Ashley and Aiden with each other because she would always start a big fight. Aiden and Ashley used this time to "hang out" with each other because it was safe—it was a Madison-free gym. Ashley was lucky for cheerleading practice to be in the girls' gym and not the boys'. _

_Like any other school day, Ashley walks to the gym, today. She stops at the doorway to peak her head in. She scans the room to see whether he's in the gym or weight room. While looking around she sees a familiar face, sitting on the bench. One she didn't essentially want to see because of what happened earlier in the day. _

_She decides to be a big girl about it and go over to talk to Spencer. As she walks Aiden yells across the gym and waves his hand, "Hey, Ash!"_

_She is a little embarrassed by the scene he made. She waves back hesitantly. Ashley continues to walk towards Spencer, who now has her eyes looking directly at Ashley. Spencer finally comprehends who is walking towards her as Ashley gets closer. _

_Ashley climbs up two rows to be on the same aisle as Spencer. She stops close enough to Spencer to be able to physical reach her. She watches Spencer's facial expressions as she maneuvers. Depending on Spencer's reactions, Ashley would either back away or proceed to try to apologize. Ashley drops her books on the floor and advances to seat down on the bench. Spencer doesn't give any specific facial expressions to Ashley's existence so Ashley uses that to her advantage. _

_Spencer turns her head away from Ashley to look at the boys playing basketball. Ashley takes that as a bad sign. Ashley looks down at fingers. It gives her something to look at when she says, "I'm sorry about before. I was a real female dog and you didn't deserve it."_

_Spencer looks at Ashley and does nothing, but smile. _

_Ashley smiles back. She continues, "Well, maybe you did. Considering you told me to figure out my fucking problems." _

_Spencer smiles back. She scrunches her eyebrows. She begins to apologize, "Yea. Sorry about that. I shouldn't have said fucking." _

_Ashley replies quickly, "Don't worry. If were in your shoes, I would've said a whole lot more than just that." _

_Spencer changes the subject, "So, do you always greet people like that in the morning or was I just the one person that made you explode?"_

_Ashley rolls her eyes. She sighs, "Well, if you must know. I got a tattoo that did not, in any way, go well with my Mom, Stepfather Number 3 or 4. They all got into one big fight about it and it was a really rough morning. So I guess you could say you were the outlet to my anger." _

_Spencer says confusedly, "Well I guess that's good, right?" _

_Ashley shrugs her shoulders. _

_Spencer continues, "Was the fight worth it? Like, did the tattoo turn out well?" _

_Ashley doesn't reply with words, rather with actions. She turns her body ninety degrees to show Spencer her back. _

_Spencer gasps before showing the tattoo because she is afraid Ashley is going to flash her. Ashley doesn't, though. She simply lifts her shirt up high enough for Spencer to view the tattoo of a heart. Spencer really likes the configuration of the tattoo. She says excitedly, "That's so awesome."_

_Ashley turns around with a smile. She shrugs her eyebrows, "Did I get your name?"_

_Spencer replies, "No. I'm Spencer Carlin. And you are?"_

"_Ashley Davies," she replies boldly. There's a pause. "The first." _

_Spencer laughs. She says sarcastically, "That's good because I was worried there was more of you."_

_Ashley says proudly, "I'll take that as a compliment. _

_They both smile at each other, knowing there was something special about one another._

_A second later, the pleasant dream is cut off. _

_Ashley is now in one, big, black room. Spencer holds her from behind while she screams, "No!"_

***

Ashley instantly wakes up from the nightmare, breathing heavily.

***

_7:00 am_

Ashley walks down the stairs and into the kitchen to see Spencer drinking coffee at the table. After a moment, Spencer notices Ashley standing at the beginning of the entrance into the kitchen. Spencer asks in a worried tone, "I'm sorry. Did I wake you, hun?"

Ashley assures Spencer in a monotone voice, "No."

Spencer places her cup on the table. She asks, "Well, did you get a good night's sleep?"

Ashley nods her head like a little kid, confused by her surroundings.

Spencer becomes wary of Ashley simple answers. This is not like her. Not even the "new" her. Spencer shrugs her eyebrows and stares at Ashley for a few moments, analyzing her actions and expressions. She asks another question, "Are you feeling okay?"

Ashley scratches her head and generates a puzzled face. She answers simply- again, "I guess so."

_This is creeping me out a little. Her brain seems to be fixed on something and it's definitely affecting her right now. _Spencer questions Ashley again, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Her eyes become fixed on Spencer, but not in a frightening way. She replies, "I don't know."

Spencer asks the next reason why Ashley's acting like this, "Do you want to talk about last night?"

Ashley replies, "No."

_It wasn't last night. Nothing went wrong that would cause her to act like this. Everything went perfect—what happened?_ Spencer lifts herself off from the chair, grabbing her empty cup. She changes the subject, purposefully to see what Ashley's reactions will be, "Okay…Well, I'm gonna go to work. Uhm…" She pauses. "Are you sure you okay?"

Ashley shrugs her shoulder quickly, expressing an "I don't know" answer.

Spencer drops her cup in the sink. She walks towards the walkway where Ashley's standing. She asks a question that should require more than a "yes" or "no" answer, "So, what are your plans for today?"

Ashley has her eyes fixed on where Spencer was just sitting. She replies simply, "I don't know."

Spencer shrugs her eyebrows. She says slowly, "Okay. I gotta get to work. I'll see you tonight?"

Ashley nods her head in agreement. Spencer kisses Ashley on the cheek and proceeds out the front door.

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_Later that day _

Ashley steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her torso. She grabs another towel out of the closet to dry her hair. She stands in front of the mirror to rub the towel through her hair enough for it to no longer be soaked. Her dad's hit single "Hold On" pops into her head. She closes her eyes to visualize that song's music video that she would watch all the time when she was little. Ashley begins to hum to the song, hitting the pitch perfectly.

She massages the last part of her head, removing the connection between the towel and her head soon after. Ashley casually turns to throw the towel into the laundry basket behind her. She turns quickly to look back at the mirror and suddenly sees her dad standing behind her. She gasps sharply at the sight of her dad behind her. She stares at him in the mirror.

He stands there nonchalantly, in his usual outfit: anything "rocker" clothes. He looks healthy and happy even though he's not smiling. She asks, "Dad?" She turns around to look at where he was standing. His image vanished from her eyes. She looks back at the mirror to see if she can see him in there, but no luck.

She begins to breathe heavily. _What the hell just happened?_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_A littler later in the day _

A raging headache erupts in Ashley's head, suddenly. She rises from the couch to get some aspirin. When she gets up, she instantly feels vertigo and has trouble finding her balance. She immediately sits back on the couch to regain her equilibrium.

Within a few moments, she stops seeing double and is able to get up from the couch. _Woo. Lets let that never happen again. _She walks over to the counter to grab the aspirin bottle and pour out the correct dosage. She pops the aspirin, without any trouble.

She exhales one deep breath. She says aloud, "What the heck is there to do around here?" She scans the area she can visually see to see what she could do to pass the time. Something triggers in her brain to think of the studio upstairs. _That's a great idea, considering I haven't stepped room in that house since the first day I've been here. I don't know why that is. _

She quickly walks up the stairs and into the hallway leading to the studio room. "Hold On" pops into her head again and she begins to mumble it. She reaches the room and twists the knob open.

She jumps to see her dad's appearance in her sight, sitting on a stool playing and singing "Hold On" with her guitar. He looks the same as before—same clothes, same hair, and body appearance. She takes one deep breath to analyze the situation. She opens her eyes, hoping to not see her dad because that's probably not a good sign.

She opens her eyes to reveal her dad, sitting on the stool, still playing and singing the song. She releases her hand from the knob to walk towards her dad. She asks, "Dad?"

He replies, which almost makes Ashley have a heart attack, "Hey, sweetie." He smiles at her.

She tentatively walks closer to her dad. She asks in confusion, "Dad? Can you hear me?"

He smiles back at her, "Yes sweetie. Come over here." She walks closer to him, more comfortably than before, but still wary about it. He sings, "Hoooold on. Just hoold on."

Ashley joins in with a smile, "Just hold on to me."

He places the guitar on the floor to wave his hands around, pretending to be a crowd cheering for them, "Woo!"

Ashley snickers lightly. She becomes serious quickly. She walks over to her dad to give him a hug. Oddly, her visual of her dad is 3-d so she is able to give him a hug, while he returns it. As she's in his arms, she says, "Dad, I miss you so much."

He consoles her, "Don't worry. You'll be with me soon enough."

Ashley takes a few seconds to ponder that. She blurts, "What?" She pushes off of her dad's chest to see his face, but his body disappears. She looks around the room, asking, "Dad?"

What the hell is going on around here?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Around 6:30 pm_

Spencer marches into the house, absolutely exhausted from work. Some of her patients were absolutely horrific to deal with today. One patient spent her whole session crying while she tried to get to the reason, but never reached. Another had to be removed from the premises because he was getting out of hand, begging for medicine that he didn't qualify for. On top of all of that, Spencer spent her day at work, worrying about how Ashley was doing. She was glad to be home.

She drops her things, not caring about where she places them. She shouts, "Ash, I'm home!" She walks into the kitchen to hang her keys up. She checks the family room to see whether or not Ashley's on the couch, sleeping. She's not on any of the couches. Spencer throws her jacket onto the couch.

She decides to check to see if Ashley's upstairs. As she walks up the stairs, she shouts, " Ashley?"

There's no response.

She reaches the top of the stairs and flips the switch so she doesn't ram her foot into something. She turns to the right to proceed to the bedroom. Before she reaches the bedroom, she notices the studio door is slightly cracked open. She calmly says as she opens the door slowly, "Aaash."

Spencer widely opens the door to reveal Ashley's limp body hanging from the ceiling by some rope. Spencer screams loudly in fright, "Ahhh!"

The scream causes Ashley to wake up from the dream. She jumps up from the couch, breathing even more heavily than before when she "saw" her dad. Her eyes move quickly, back and forth, around the area. She says aloud, "Spencer?"

There's no response.

Ashley greatly reduces her time of getting up from the couch because another headache just erupted in her head. She says aloud again, "Spencer?" Seconds later, she hears the water running from the upstairs bathroom. _Thank God she's home._

Ashley gets up from the couch, but only to get aspirin again. She slowly walks through the kitchen. She gazes over at the clock on the oven. It reads: 8:00. _Oh my God. How long was I out?_

She hears the rhythm of Spencer's feet as she walks down the stairs. Spencer turns the corner to unexpectedly see Ashley standing in the kitchen. Ashley and Spencer look at each other. She immediately feels Ashley isn't right—something's not right. She asks, "Ash you don't look too well. Do you feel alright?"

Ashley's body immediately turns into jello and she drops to the floor, making the bottle of aspirin crash the floor as well.

Spencer screams, "Ash!"

***

_Ashley helps the crew pack up for the night so everyone can get home earlier._

_The crew and her manage to put away everything in less than twenty minutes. Ashley begins walking towards Kat, who was closing up the bar, "I'm checking out for the night. I'll see you Tuesday." _

_"Have a good night, Ashley," Kat replies with sincerity. _

_Ashley walks towards her older BMW and says to her car, "Sorry I kept you waiting so long," a snicker follows. She doesn't talk to cars normally; it's just that that car was very special to her- and Spencer. It was the car that Spencer and her shared many memories with. The most exciting one was when they ran away and went for a road trip because Paula kept Spencer away from Ashley. Ashley couldn't have that, so she kidnapped her. She begins to reminisce that trip._ God, that was such an amazing time. We were so in love. And they still are. I'm so glad Paula came around, though. Life would be hell if she didn't.

_Ashley gets into her car, buckles her seatbelt, turns on the car and begins to back out of the parking lot to head home to her wife. _

_Ashley slams her hand on the steering wheel:_ Shit! I forgot to call Spencer and let her know I left the bar_. Ashley blows it off and figures she would surprise Spence this time. Their house is about ten minutes away from the bar- using the highway. Ashley decides to go on the highway to get home faster._

_The road seems to have fewer cars than it usually does, even though it's 11:30 at night. LA is a very busy city. The highway part of the trip is over so she takes the next exit and heads towards the city. _

_The ride is going smoothly until Ashley's favorite picture of Spencer falls from her visor. She decides to try to pick it up, but can't seem to reach it. She checks to see if any cars are in front of her or in back of her within close proximity so that she can get the picture without crashing into a car. There are very minimal cars, very surprisingly, so the coast is clear. _

_She has the picture at the tip of her figures, but that causes it to move farther away from her. She becomes angry:_ Damn Spencer, cooperate_. She decides to just bend over and grab it. Not realizing she still has her hand on the wheel, she accidentally cuts the wheel to the left and ends up on the wrong side of the road._

_She picks up her head and before she can think to turn the wheel, she sees a white light staring in front of her. _

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Ashley awakes from the disturbing dream to the sight of a big, white lights moving closer then back away from her as her body moves, involuntarily.

Her heart's beat is in sync with the blinking of her eyes. The strength of her eyes get weaker and weaker while she hears the sound of a familiar feminine voice screaming, "We're gonna need 10MLs of adrenaline! Now!"

She loses strength in her eyes to be able to keep them open long enough to find who is around her.

Before she loses complete consciousness, she hears Spencer screaming in the distance, "No! Ashley!"

**If theres any confusion with this update, I'd be glad to clear up any of it :)**


	11. Chapter 10

**The feedback is good :) **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Chapter 10**

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_Previously on Through Sickness and In Health_

_She loses strength in her eyes to be able to keep them open long enough to find who is around her._

_Before she loses complete consciousness, she hears Spencer screaming in the distance, "No! Ashley!"_

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Spencer sits in the waiting room, once again. It is exactly what she doesn't want to do. Arthur has his arm around Spencer, trying to comfort her, but it isn't working, simply because Spencer feels the guilt of the situation. I knew she wasn't right. I should've brought her to the doctors and then none of this would've happened. Spencer rocks back and forth in her seat, impatiently waiting for her mom to give her an update. Spencer looks at her dad and says, "They've been in there two hours. Do you think everything's alright?" She pauses. "Everything was going so well, except for occasional flashbacks, but I was getting her back. I almost had her back." She shakes her head.

Arthur tries to comfort her. He says, "Everything will be fine." Like the first time, he said that to "assure" everything was going to be fine.

Spencer takes in one, long, deep breath to help ease herself. She closes her eyes, hoping to assist her in finding anything positive that could come out of this. She almost reaches a "happy place" when Paula disrupts calmly, "Spencer."

Spencer turns to look at her mom, somewhat shocked. She says, "Mom." Her dad releases her from his arms for her to walk over to Paula. Spencer asks, "Is everything all right?"

Paula says quickly, "Dr. Brown and I are trying to figure out what could've mad-"

Spencer cuts her off, "Is she all right?"

Paula lets out a big sigh. She looks around the room, contemplating on how she should say it. She finally says, "She's slipped into another coma."

Spencer gasps and puts her hands over her mouth. She emits small, quick breaths. She barely says, "Oh my God."

Paula says, "I know, but we need you. We need your help, but I need to know you can help us without going hysterical."

Spencer looks at her mom with a little anger. She says, "Thanks Mom, for thinking so highly of me." Spencer angrily waves her hand to precede her mom to move towards the room. "Let's go."

They reach the room within a few moments and Spencer steps through, with more confidence than the last time. This time is completely different for her- good and bad.

This time, she has a little more confidence Ashley will wake up because she made it through the first time. There are no bruises, cuts, broken bones, which could mean the body doesn't have to go through as long of a healing process as it did before.

Last time, Ashley slipped into a coma because of the accident. She slipped into a coma this time, because of an unknown reason and that scares Spencer more than anything.

Spencer sees Dr. Brown as soon as she turns the corner into the doorway. She greets him enthusiastically. It isn't the appropriate time to say "nice to see you, again", so Dr. Brown doesn't even play with that. He nonchalantly greets her back. He says, to Spencer, in a pleasant tone, "Would you mind taking a seat?"

Spencer quickly looks around the room for one and finds one directly. She pulls the chair up towards Dr. Brown, who is calmly holding a clipboard with a notepad. Spencer gets nice and relaxed before Dr. Brown begins his speech. He clears his throat and then looks at Spencer, "Well, as you see, Ashley has slipped into another coma, but we **expect** her to come out of it rather quickly. We've been trying to find a sufficient reason, but we've failed." He runs his eyes, left and right, to figure out how he should word his sentences. "We need to know, from you, if anything strange happened today, yesterday, a few days ago." He snaps his pen to be ready to take notes. Paula stands in the background, paying attention to Dr. Brown.

Spencer immediately says, "This morning, she woke up and right away I knew she wasn't herself. She had this very confused, very out-of-nature look on her face. It's hard to explain." She stops. "When I asked her what was wrong, she couldn't answer me because she said she didn't know. Then I began to ask her, very simply, usual questions, but all she did was shake her head or say she didn't know."

As he writes down what Spencer says, he nods his head. When she finishes, he says, "Mhm." He looks up at Spencer. "Can you remember anything particularly strange happening before today?"

Spencer expresses she's thinking about the question. After a few moments she finally says as she shakes her head, "No. I can't think of anything. She was just having her usual flashbacks and then-"

Dr. Brown cut her off, "Flashbacks? What kind of flashbacks?"

Spencer stutters, "Well…uh…um…the most recent one…" Spencer thinks to herself. _Our first time! _"Well, uh… the most recent one I'd feel rather uncomfortable talking about."

"Mrs. Davies, you're going to need to cooperate if you want us to be able to help Ashley. We need to know anything and everything that could lead to the cause and resolution of the problem," he intellectually says.

Spencer looks at her mom, standing next to her. She lets out a deep breath and says quickly, "Our first time having…"

Dr. Brown immediately says, "Oh."

Paula interrupts, "And when was that?"

Spencer lies, "A good ten years after we got married." Paula gives her the "come on" look as if she lied. Well, she did. Spencer makes an excuse, "We wanted to make sure we were mature and ready enough." Spencer rolls her eyes as she turns back to Dr. Brown. She says to him, "As you were saying?"

Dr. Brown says, "Can you remember her first flashback?"

Spencer quickly answers, "Yes. It was the day she woke up from her coma. She told me, later on, what happened when she blacked out."

"What was the flashback about?"

Spencer confesses, "She said it was a flashback to when her mom beat her. She thought it was the first time it happened, but definitely not the last."

"Was it a relevant flashback?"

Spencer admits, "Yes."

"Are there any other flashbacks that she experienced since leaving the hospital?"

Spencer mumbles her thoughts out loud, "Beating, first time, Aiden-"

Dr. Brown cuts her off again, "Aiden? Whose that?"

Spencer lets out a deep breath and says, "He was Ashley's boyfriend way back when." Spencer shrugs her eyebrows and moves her hands as she talks. "He was shot in a drive-by shooting at our high school during prom."

He says sincerely, "I'm so sorry to hear that, but of course, press on."

Spencer thinks to see if there were any that she could remember, but there wasn't. She says. "I think that's it." She pauses, but then quickly states before he can process any words, "The thing that scared me was how short the intervals were between each flashback. I mean, I never really got into that part of my studies, but I don't think that should happen."

"How short were the intervals?"

Spencer sighs, "Well, recently she experienced probably the majority, if not all, the flashbacks she's had."

He clears his throat then speaks, "It's not too common to have recurring flashbacks, especially not after coming out of a coma." He analyzes his notes. He says to Paula, "Dr. Carlin, can you have an MRI and full CAT scan set up?"

She nods and says as she marches out of the room, "Yea."

Spencer changes the subject, "So when is she expected out of the coma—give or take?"

He says slowly as he rights on his board, "Should be within the next couple of days, but things can change. Anything can happen."

Spencer nods her head. She points over to Ashley while she asks, "Can I um…"

He looks up at her and notices her actions. He nods his head and quickly excuses himself out of the room.

Spencer picks herself up from her seat to walk over to Ashley. She glides her hand slowly along the perimeter as she prepares herself for another monologue. She says in a sweet tone, "Hey, Ash." She gradually elevates her hand from touching the bed. "I never thought I was going to be in this position again. I never wanted to be in this position again." Spencer pauses. "Just be okay, please? I need you to be strong and fight through whatever you're going through." She breathes out. "I just wish you could tell me what's going on. I wish I could help." Spencer exhales deeply. "Ashley, Ashley, Ashley. What's going on in that head of yours?"

Ashley sharply inhales a deep breath of air, startling Spencer a bit. Spencer quickly looks at Ashley's actions. Ashley coughs furiously, as if she is trying to cough something up, but she's not choking on anything. Her cough subsides within a few moments. She blinks her eyes slowly as she tilts her head to look at Spencer. She says in a raspy voice, "Spencer?"

At least she knows who I am. Spencer says promptly, "Ashley? Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

Ashley assures, "No." She looks at the room to examine where she is. "What happened?"

Spencer replies tranquilly, "You…well, you passed out and went into a coma?"

Ashley starts breathing heavily, soaking in what she just heard. She breathes out, "What?" She pauses. "But I was on my way home to see you and-"

Spencer stops her short, "Wait, what?" Is this the old Ashley? Did she just like flip roles or something?

Ashley seems very alert and responsive to Spencer, which is unbelievable. She tells, "I was on my way home. You were absolutely gorgeous in that little outfit of yours. I was going home for us to have alone time—something we hadn't had in a really long time."

She knows an awful lot for someone just coming out of a coma. Spencer shrugs her eyebrows and asks, "Can you remember anything else?"

Ashley ponders a bit on that. She shakes her head and says simply, "No."

Uh…Uhm… Think of a question only the old Ashley would know. Then that can justify which Ashley this is. Spencer says quickly, "What happened the night Glen was bailed out for drugs?"

Ashley says with a small smirk on her face, "Your mom caught us and practically ripped me a new one."

Spencer can't refuse to laugh, especially not after seeing how Ashley said that. Spencer seductively walks closer to Ashley. She leans her head into to kiss Ashley softly on the lips. She says genuinely, "I missed you so much."

Ashley says sort of confusedly, "But I didn't go anywhere."

Spencer looks at her with a stunned expression and says, "You have no idea." Spencer connects her lips with Ashley's for a few moments. There is a sudden knock on the door. Spencer quickly releases her lips from Ashley's and takes a step back. She looks over to see whose standing at the doorway. It's Paula. Her mouth is wide open, expressing the shock of seeing Ashley awake and so soon. Spencer says nervously, "Hey Mom." Spencer plays with her own emotions to help not be so uncomfortable in this situation.

Ashley notices Spencer's actions and says in a semi-obnoxious tone, "Would you quit it? It's not like we just got caught again." Ashley waits a few moments for a slight peep from someone, but doesn't get it. She finally laughs to ease the possible tensions she could've created by doing that. She looks over at Paula and says cheerfully, "Hi Paula."

Paula says sincerely, "Hello Ashley. It's nice to see you again, but we have to prep you for the MRI and CAT scan Dr. Brown scheduled for you."

Ashley looks back and forth at Spencer and Paula as she asks slowly, "Why am I getting a CAT scan and…?"

Paula lies to not scare Ashley off, "It's just procedure. We have to make sure everything is all right and clear for you to go home."

Ashley says truthfully, "Whatever it takes to get me out as quickly as possible." Ashley looks around the room, but this time with a disgusted look on her face. "This place is giving me the creeps just looking at it."

Paula assures, "Don't worry. We'll get you out of here as soon as we can. I promise."

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_7:00 am_

Ashley lies on her bed, staring out of the window, gazing at the beautiful flowers outside. She hears Spencer rustle in her seat a bit as she sleeps serenely. She slowly flips her head to the other side to watch Spencer sleep so calmly. Ashley didn't get much sleep last night because she was anxious to get back the news of the CAT scan and the MRI. She's scared out of her mind, but doesn't express it to Spencer because she doesn't want Spencer to worry about her.

She looks back at the window and sort of squints her eyes to look out into the horizon. What a beautiful view. Spencer begins to rustle a little more in her chair, causing Ashley to look a little more quickly to check if she was all right. She has to make sure she isn't going to fall out of the chair. I feel so bad she has to be crammed in that stiff chair and I get a semi-decent bed. I would offer the bed to her, but she would never take it. She's looking out for my best interest, but doesn't she know that's exactly what I want to do for her?

An unpreventable mini cough is projected out of Ashley's diaphragm, immediately causing Spencer to wake up groggily asking, "Ashley?"

Ashley says quietly, "Sorry." As Spencer's eyelids slowly begin to close, Ashley says, "Go back to sleep beautiful. You need your rest." Spencer fully closes her eyes and is back to sleep in a matter of seconds. Ashley says under her breath, "Something tells me we're both going to need it."

Spencer stays asleep soundlessly while Ashley finds little random things to keep her busy.

Ashley twiddles her thumbs while she hums her song, "The One." Spencer shifts in her seat, causing Ashley to look over and immediately stops her own actions. Ashley feels how uncomfortable Spencer feels being squished in that chair. Ashley says only loud enough for Spencer to hear, "Spencer come and lie on the bed with me."

Spencer looks at her half awake and then closes her eyes. She says, "No. We'll get in trouble."

Ashley says sharply, but only for the best interest of Spencer, "Spencer, get your butt over here now if you know what's good for you."

Spencer waits a few moments then reluctantly unravels the blanket from her body to get out of the chair. She acts like a little kid by groaning out, "Ugh."

Ashley scoots over to the right side of the bed to let Spencer have some room. Spencer climbs into the bed and comfortably settles herself. She faces the opposite way of Ashley. Ashley wraps her arm around Spencer's body and pulls her in closer.

Ashley soothingly plays with Spencer's hair, allowing her to gradually fall asleep happily in her arms. Ashley knows she's not fully asleep yet so she leans in closer to her ear and quietly whispers to Spencer, "I love you so much, Spencer. Did you know that?"

After a couple moments, Spencer mumbles, "Yes. I love you too."

Ashley leans back and says, "Thank you. I needed to hear that."

Spencer takes a couple seconds to figure out that statement. She swiftly becomes alert. She flips her body over to view Ashley's face. She says, "You know that I love you." Spencer pulls back Ashley's hair. "What's wrong?"

Ashley says as she stares deeply into Spencer's worried eyes, "Did you know I heard you talking to me, before?" Spencer gives her a confused look, but doesn't say anything. "You told me to be okay. Well, what's wrong with me? I want you to be honest with me."

Spencer sighs, "If I tell you, I'll probably just start crying."

Ashley assures her, "It's okay. I'll just wipe away the tears like I always have."

Spencer lets out a deep breath and updates, "About seven months ago, you were in a serious car accident." Ashley gasps loudly. "It was the night you were going to come home and we were gonna have our alone time, but it never happened." She pauses. "You immediately fell into a coma for about six months." Spencer's voice breaks as she continues, "I didn't think you were coming back to me. You have no idea how scared I was." Hold back her tears and sniffles.

Ashley strokes her thumb on Spencer's cheek. She comforts her, "I'm here now. I will always be here, with you." Ashley kisses the top of Spencer's head.

Spencer says, "I know." Spencer quickly wipes away a tear that was about to fall. "But the worst part was when you woke up and you didn't even know who I was."

Ashley says, "Well it couldn't have been me then because you are the thing that makes me whole. You are what makes me me."

Spencer looks deeply into Ashley's eyes and smiles. She says, "And then slowly you had these flashbacks to I guess help you remember your life when I was in it. Then you passed out on the kitchen floor yesterday and that's why you're here. You went into another coma, but the doctors don't know why. That's why they took the CAT scan and MRI."

Ashley says quite abruptly, "Your mom lied to me?"

Spencer replies quickly, "It was only to protect you. She didn't want you to get worried and then end up refusing to get them done. She was only doing it for your best interest."

Ashley scuffs her voice, "I can take care of myself." She looks away from Spencer, but then looks back and quickly smiles. She chuckles.

Something quickly pops up into Spencer's mind. She says calmly, "Um… I have to tell you something."

Ashley says with a smile on her face, "What is it?"

Spencer sighs, "Well." She pauses. "To make a long story short, I found out your mom beat you when we were younger."

Ashley gasps loudly. She breaks away the connection between her and Spencer. She says in an angry, "Who told you that?"

Spencer says quickly, "You did, well sort of. As soon as you woke up out of your coma, you kept having these violent dreams of your mom beating you. I told my mom and then she had a talk with your mom. We went over to your mom's house and after that, everything became sort of at ease between you and your mom. And your violent dreams stopped happening." She stares at Ashley's shocked face. "See, if my mom hadn't interfered with your life, your relationship with your mom might still be the way it was years ago."

Ashley lies there, still in shock about the news. She blinks a few times.

Spencer says, "I can't believe you never told me. Why didn't you?"

Ashley finally stops staring and confesses, "I never wanted you to find out. I didn't want to make it into a bigger deal than it already was. I didn't want you to worry."

Spencer shrugs her eyebrows. She says, "You didn't that I would've protected you when I could've?"

Ashley assures, "Yea, I know you would've, but I didn't want to go through the process of getting taken away or whatever the state would have to do to keep me safe. I didn't want to be taken away from you. That's what probably would've happened."

Spencer says briskly, "Are you kidding me? My dad's a social worker. He would've made sure everything worked out so that you would've been taken care of."

Ashley says quietly, "Oh." She pauses to look at Spencer's reactions. Ashley's out of excuses so she changes the subject, "Well I'm gonna go back to sleep now." She quickly flips over to face the opposite way.

Spencer scuffs her voice, "Oh whatever." She scoots closer to Ashley and wraps her arms around her stomach.

Ashley finally falls asleep silently, with the help of Spencer's comforting touch.

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_A couple hours later_

Paula walks into the room serenely until she notices the girls on the bed, breaking hospital rules. Paula clears her throat loudly to wake up the girls, but they stay asleep quietly. She waits a few seconds and then clears her throat, louder.

Spencer jumps from the sound. She rubs her eyes vigorously and turns her head to look at her mother staring at her with her arms folded. She quickly gets up from the bed and tries to act like she wasn't just in the bed with Ashley. She asks to direct Paula's attention to something else, "What's going on? Did you get the results back?"

Paula nods her head and says, "Yes. I'm going to get Dr. Brown. I just wanted to check on you two first."

Spencer looks over at Ashley to see her sleep so beautifully. She says, "Everything's fine."

Paula says slowly, "Okay. Well, I'll go get Dr. Brown."

Spencer nods her head as she looks down at the floor. She waits for her mom to leave the room before she turns around to look at Ashley. She walks quickly over to the bed and says, "Wake up, Ash. Now."

Ashley slowly opens her eyes and turns around. She asks concernedly, "What is it?"

Spencer says hastily, "You have to wake up. Dr. Brown's coming in soon with the results."

She immediately becomes alert. She flips her body over and sits up. She continually rubs her eyes until she seems awake enough to see Dr. Brown. She says to assure Spencer, "Okay. Okay."

A few seconds later, Dr. Brown walks in with a large folder filled with pictures from the MRI. He walks in and greets them in a friendly tone, "Hello ladies."

They both greet him back quietly. He looks down at the folder and pulls out a few sheets of the MRI. He quickly glances at the first two and discards them back into the folder. He puts the third one up to the light and expresses a face that is the correct one. He speaks to Spencer, "Would you mind taking a look at this with me?"

Spencer nods her head and proceeds to the screen that lights up. He clips the sheet of pictures onto the board and switches on the light. He says, "This core of the problem." He points to the upper right picture.

Spencer immediately analyzes the picture and gasps, "Oh no."

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	12. Chapter 11

**Here's another update :)**

**Chapter 11**

Ashley asks with direct concern, "What? What is it?" Ashley leaps off the bed and scurries towards them. She looks at where he's pointing. She demands, "Okay. Tell me what I'm looking at. What is it?"

He looks at Ashley with a disappointed face. He looks back at the board and circles the area of concentration. He says, "This is our main concern." He circles a darkened spot on the picture. It's a decent size spot. Ashley connects the area he's pointing at to her head. She gently places her hand over that area and grazes the area, trying to feel a bump. He glances back at her and hesitantly says, "It's a tumor."

Ashley smacks her mouth by bringing her hand to cover her mouth. Spencer looks down at Ashley's spare hand and grabs it. She clutches her hand tightly to help herself from crying hysterically. Spencer does her best to hold her tears back, but does not succeed. Ashley looks at Dr. Brown who feels very uncomfortable in this position even though he's been in it more times than he wished. Spencer covers her eyes as she lets the tears rip through. Ashley gazes at him and asks, "Could you give us a minute?"

He is more than glad to hear those words. Even though he feels for the both of them, he knows they need to get through it together. He excuses himself from the room, leaving the girls in the room alone.

Ashley turns Spencer around enough for them to face each other. Ashley places her hands on both sides of Spencer's arms. Spencer still has her head down, protecting her face from being seen crying. Ashley demands, "Look at me Spencer. Please."

Spencer says quickly, "I can't, Ash. I can't. It'll hurt too much."

She brushes away tears that have reached Spencer's cheek. Ashley consoles Spencer to calm her down to a reasonable state. She says, "Don't be worried I'm not going to make it through because I will. We're going to get through this and look back on it like it was nothing." Spencer slowly picks up her head. "If we got through your mom, we can get through anything." Spencer smiles and chuckles a little.

She quickly gets serious, "But what if it's not just a tumor? What if it's a lot worse? It could be…"

Ashley asks, "Cancer? If it is, I'll fight it. When have you known me to not be a fighter?"

Spencer sniffles and wipes any other tears. She says as she looks into Ashley's deep brown eyes, "Never."

Ashley says, "Good. Now can Dr. Brown come in so we can figure out what options there are?"

Spencer has calmed down considerably. She replies, "Yes."

Ashley splits the link between her and Spencer. She walks to the doorway and peaks her head out. She looks down the hall and immediately spots him. She yells, "Yo! Dr. Brown! We're ready!" Ashley walks back into the room, acting innocent.

Spencer gives her _the look_. She says with a smile on her face, "I can't believe how much you've matured over the years."

Ashley smiles widely as the doctor walks in. He says, "Okay. Well where did we leave off?"

Ashley blurts out, "What are my options?"

He says, "There are two options. A: you could leave it the way it is and live on with your life. What ever happens, happens." He pauses. Spencer and Ashley look at each other and immediately shake their heads. That is not an option. "Or option B: I would perform surgery to remove the tumor and have it sent to a lab to test it. And then we go from there."

Ashley says quickly, "Option B. Without a doubt. How quickly can this all be done?"

Dr. Brown lets out a big huff of air. He says, "You have to go for a bunch of tests, first, to make sure you are well enough to perform surgery. For some, that takes a couple weeks. Others it could take a couple months."

Ashley shakes her head frantically. She says, "No. I'm not waiting that long to get this thing out of me. I'll schedule appointments as soon as I can."

Spencer turns the conversation into a pessimistic one, unintentionally. She asks, "What happens if the tumor is cancerous?"

He takes the MRI from the board and places it back into the folder. He says, "When the tumor is sent off to the lab, they will test to see if the tumor came from a different part of the body. It could've formed because there is cancer going on in some other part of the body." He pauses and clears his throat. "Since the tumor is closer to the front of the head, usually that indicates whatever's going on, isn't as serious." He changes the subject. "If it isn't from another part of the body, but it's cancerous, there will be multiple options to choose from. Hopefully, that time will never come."

He hands over the folder to Ashley. Ashley asks in a confused tone, "I get these? Are these like my parting gifts?"

He laughs lightly, "No. We really don't have any use for them right now, but I can guarantee you, we'll need them in the future, so keep them in a safe place."

Ashley assures, "Okay. I will."

He slowly shuffles his feet towards the door. Spencer says before he's completely out of the room, "Thank you, doctor. You've been so much help. I don't know how to repay you."

He assures her, "You don't need to. It's my job to do this." He smiles as he exits the room, waving to the girls.

They stand there a few moments, not knowing what to do. Ashley asks, "Am I free to go?"

Spencer says in a puzzled tone, "I guess? No one said you couldn't leave."

Ashley says, "Okay, but if I get in trouble, you're the one who told me it was okay to leave."

Spencer says sarcastically, "Thanks."

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_A couple nights later_

Ashley slowly walks up behind Spencer who is preparing dinner on the stove. Ashley wraps her arms around Spencer's stomach and rests her head on her shoulder. Spencer is joyful at the moment of Ashley's touch. Spencer turns her head a little and says, "Hey."

Ashley says, "It's so good to feel you in my arms again." She smiles and picks up her head to look at Spencer's reaction.

Spencer says, "You have no idea how good it feels to be in your arms." She turns around, releasing from Ashley's support, bringing a spoonful of homemade spaghetti sauce to be tasted by Ashley.

Ashley opens her mouth to allow Spencer to feed her the sauce. She gets a good amount of sauce in her mouth and instantly tastes the goodness of it. The recipe is from Arthur, so it has to be good. Ashley prevents any excess sauce from falling on the floor. Spencer waits for a reaction. Ashley smiles, letting Spencer know it's perfect.

Ashley walks across the kitchen and grabs a towel off the roll to wipe her face. Spencer looks back her quickly. Ashley says, "You're a good cook. I'm glad you take after your dad with that."

Spencer snickers to herself. She says, "Yea. If I took after my mom, we'd probably be dead. She's such a terrible cook."

Ashley laughs. She says confusedly, "I wonder how I learned to cook." Ashley reaches into the cabinet to grab two plates and two glasses. She places both items on the island.

Spencer says in a pretend snotty way, "From me of course. Duh." They both laugh at her conceitedness.

Ashley blurts out jokingly, "Oh you think you deserve all of the credit? Huh?" She pulls the drawer out and grabs two forks. She leans over the counter and grabs a handful of napkins.

Spencer turns to look at Ashley. She shrugs her eyebrows and says playfully, "What? You're saying you knew how to cook before you met me?"

Ashley piles the plates, napkins, and utensils all in one stack. Before she picks them up to set the table, she says, "No, but I managed. My mom never cooked. No, let me rephrase that. She never cooked for _me._ As soon as Kyla came along, my mom cooked every night."

Spencer frowns and turns around. She says in a positive way, "I bet if you were to call her up now, she would be glad to cook you supper."

Ashley walks over to the kitchen table and places everything in their designated places. Ashley scuffs her voice, "I find that hard to believe."

Spencer yells for Ashley to hear, "I heard that. And believe it or not, your mom really seems to care about you now. I wish you could've seen her the day we went over. She was a mess." Spencer turns off the stove and grabs a colander to put in the sink.

Ashley says in shock, "Really?"

Spencer pulls potholders out of the drawer. She places them on both handles and carries it over to the sink. She dumps the macaroni into the colander, making steam rise quickly from the sink. Spencer places the pot on the counter and shakes the colander, allowing excess water to drain. She pours the macaroni back into the pot and brings it back over to the stove. With concentrating on everything she was doing, Spencer didn't hear Ashley ask her.

Ashley asks again, "Really?"

Spencer looks over at Ashley. She asks, "Really what?"

"You think she really cares about me?"

She shakes her head honestly. She says, "Yea. I really think so." She begins to pour the sauce in with the macaroni. She puts the pot down. Ashley walks over to the cabinet to reach for a serving plate. She hands it over to Spencer. Spencer says, "I think we should invite her over for dinner sometime. If that's all right with you."

Ashley looks at Spencer in a serious way. She says, "Yea. That'll be an interesting event." Ashley turns her body every which way to look for the bowl of salad, which is usually out and on the table, but not tonight.

Spencer glances over to see Ashley looking for something and without having to ask her what, she says, "Salad's in the fridge."

Ashley looks at her dumbfounded, "You know me too well."

Spencer laughs to herself as Ashley walks over to the fridge to snatch the salad. She says, "I know."

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_After dinner_

They sit at the table comfortably, talking to each other. Ashley takes a swig of her water and places it down gently. She looks at Spencer with a serious face and asks, "So what was I like?"

Spencer folds her arms casually. She shrugs her eyebrows and asks, "What do you mean?"

Ashley replies quickly, "When I came out of the coma. How was I?"

Spencer moves her hand to be on the table. She looks down at it. She asks as she giggles, "You really want to know?"

Ashley shrugs her eyebrows. She says, "Yea. It couldn't have been too bad."

Spencer scuffs her voice, "You have no idea. When you first woke up, you were so unbelievably nasty to me." She pauses to look at Ashley's reaction. "But it didn't take you too long to fall back in love with me. Oh and let me tell you." Spencer puts both of her arms on the table and leans in closer towards Ashley.

Ashley can't do anything but laugh and say, "What?"

Spencer brags, "The sex was amazing."

Ashley's face turns into a little girl's who just found out Santa isn't real. She breathes out, "Really?"

Spencer leans back into her chair and makes a face that she's reminiscing those times. She says jokingly, "Yea. I think I miss her now." She smiles.

Ashley's mouth drops to the table. She creates a fake frown and picks up her plate to walk to the sink. She says, "Fine. I'll leave so you can stay there, wishing she would come back." Ashley's joking, but she convinces Spencer the gullible to believe her.

Spencer shrugs her eyebrows and becomes confused. She quickly gets up from her chair to grab a hold of Ashley's arm. She spins her around slightly to lay her lips onto Ashley's.

Ashley, while keeping her main focus on Spencer's lips, places her dish onto the corner of the table. She grasps Spencer's face with both hands. They keep their kisses passionate and, yet, hard.

Spencer breaks away to pause their romance. She grabs Ashley's hand and leads her to the living room couch to carry on with their business.

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_One week later_

Ashley parks the car in the driveway and is happy to find Spencer's home. She walks through the front door, yelling, "Spencer! I'm home!"

Spencer runs down the stairs, barely holding the railing on the way down. She runs right over to Ashley. She instantly asks, "How'd everything go?"

Ashley replies in an adequate way, "Good. Good. Everything's cleared and we just have to schedule an appointment with Dr. Brown and we'll go from there." Ashley lets out a big breath of air, expressing her distress.

Spencer asks concernedly, "Are you okay? You don't look too good."

She puts her hand on her head. She says, "I'm just a little dizzy, that's all. I'm fine." Ashley begins to swirl slowly.

Spencer grabs Ashley, preventing her from falling to the ground. She says, trying to hold Ashley's body up, "You're not okay. I'm bringing you to the hospital. I'm gonna call my mom first to tell her we're coming."

Ashley's sight starts to spin madly. Spencer guides Ashley to a chair in the living room. Ashley blurts, "My head's killing me."

Spencer consoles, "Don't worry. You'll get taken care of. Just stay here a moment."

Spencer runs quickly into the kitchen to call up Paula. Ashley sits on the chair for a few moments before her head loses all its strength to keep it up. Her mind shuts down as her body crashes onto the carpet, making no sound at all. Spencer hangs up the phone and walks back to find Ashley's seemingly lifeless body. Spencer says in shock, "Oh my God."


	13. Chapter 12

**I think I have one more update after this before I'm out of pre-written updates. I'm not ending the story, I just have to write more updates and as soon as I have more available, I will post them :)**

**Author's Note: The "3 months later" scene is a flashforward into the future. and the last few sentences in italics, is a flashback **

**Chapter 12**

Dr. Brown is called into Ashley's emergency room as soon as she is admitted. He quickly gazes at her records taken within the past ten minutes. He runs his hand through his hair, letting out a big sigh to help him comprehend what to do. The nurses have Ashley in a stable state so he decides to run out to the waiting room really quick.

He glances around, trying to spot Spencer. Before he can see her, she finds him. She runs up quickly and asks, "Is she okay?"

He asks, "Do you by any chance have the MRI pictures with you?"

She nods her head and says, "Yes I do." She walks over back to her seat and snatches them to hand over to him. He takes the pictures and runs off quickly without saying a single word.

As he prepares to find the certain page, he says to the nurses, "Prep her for surgery, now." They quickly move to organize what they need to. He discovers the page and puts it directly onto the lighted board. He puts his hand on top of his head, trying to remember each part of the brain's job. He touches the front of his head: "Personality," he touches the back: "Intellect," then he points to the right side of his head—the side the tumor is on: "Memory." He gasps at his mind-blowing discovery. He turns around to see the progress with Ashley. She's still in the room. He yells, "What is she still doing here? Get her into the room now!"

The nurses rapidly wheel Ashley out of the room, allowing him to prepare for surgery as well, but before he does that, he decides to inform Spencer of his plans.

He taps her shoulder lightly to not startle her. He says in a pleasant tone, "Mrs. Davies?"

She turns around and stands up. She says anxiously, "Yes?"

He lets out a breath of air as he speaks, "I think I may have found the cause of Ashley's problems—all of them." He realizes he has about a good five minutes before they get her set up. He explains, "The tumor is on the side of the brain that functions the memory. It may have been the cause of the constant flashbacks and whatnot. What I'm going to do is prepare for emergency surgery and remove the tumor. Her records show she's gotten all of the tests done and ready for surgery. The tumor will be immediately sent off to the lab to be tested." He claps his hands together. "And then we'll go from there."

All she can do is nod her head and give him the approval to do what he believes is the right thing. Ashley's future is pretty much in his hands and she's willing to let that be, especially if it saves Ashley.

He nods his head and turns around to proceed with his duty.

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_8 hours later_

Spencer has her head leaning against the wall as she sleeps as calmly as she can, considering where she is and why. She's a little more at ease than before Dr. Brown called for surgery, but there's still a lot of uncertainty.

She suddenly has a dream about falling down a flight of stairs, which startles her. She wakes up, short breathed and glancing every which way to come to the realization of where she is. She quickly realizes what made her wake up. That can't be good.

Spencer picks herself up from the chair to stretch her legs out. She proceeds down the hall, but it stopped by a familiar voice. The masculine voice calls, "Mrs. Davies?"

She turns around to see Dr. Brown, standing somewhat close to her with a thick band of perspiration across his face. His facial expressions show he's exhausted, but there is a hint of relief. She replies, "Yes?"

He walks a little closer to her with a widened smile on his face. He says, "The surgery went smoothly. She reacted well to the medicine and everything. She's in the recovery center right now."

She says happily, "Oh that's wonderful. Thank you so much." She reaches out her hand to shake his. "When can I see her?"

He ponders a little. He says, "In about half an hour. She'll be in her room by then."

Spencer lets out a big sigh of relief and says, "Thank you so much doctor."

He nods his head slightly and says, "You're welcome."

He excuses himself out of the lobby and back into the main area.

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Spencer slowly walks through the room and sees Ashley all bandaged up. Tubes are running all throughout her body. All Spencer can hear is the soothing sound of the machine, measuring her heartbeat. Spencer walks towards Ashley's stagnant body. She has her head turned away from Spencer while she sleeps serenely. She grabs the chair to pull it over towards Ashley's body.

Spencer situates herself comfortably in the chair. Spencer soothingly caresses Ashley's hand that is not hooked up to the IV. The calming touch of Spencer's presence causes Ashley to slowly open her eyes. Ashley cautiously turns her head over to view Spencer's unique face.

Spencer says in an inviting tone, "Hey there."

Ashley struggles to open her eyes because the rest of her body still wants to sleep. She speaks groggily, "What happened?"

Spencer answers calmly, to not startle Ashley, "Well, about ten hours ago, you gave me a big scare. You came home from your last doctor's appointment before continuing on with the surgery for the tumor in your head. You didn't look good at all and before I knew it, you passed out on the floor. I quickly raced you to the hospital and Dr. Brown performed emergency surgery on you to remove the tumor."

Ashley utters out, "Wow."

Spencer nods her head and says, "Yea. How are you feeling?"

Ashley says, "I'm not really feeling anything, but that's a good thing because I don't really have the strength to be in that much pain right now."

Spencer says pleasantly, "I understand. I'm going to go make some calls and then I'll be back."

Ashley pleads, "No. Please stay. Just for a little bit?" Ashley reaches out her hand to be held by Spencer's.

Spencer can't pass the offer up. She says, "Okay. I'll stay until you fall back asleep."

Ashley looks at Spencer, trying to smile as she says, "Okay. Then I'll try to stay awake."

Spencer giggles lightly as she watches her baby slowly fall back into a calm sleep.

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Spencer talks through her phone, "Yea. Yea. She just got out of surgery and I bet she would be glad to see you. So if you could come at your earliest convenience…"

Christine speaks on the other end, "That's not a problem. I'll be over right now."

Spencer says happily, "Great and thank you so much." Spencer hangs up the phone to look at the time. It's almost three in the morning and suddenly she feels terrible for even calling Christine in the first place. On the other hand, Spencer figures that Ashley would want to see her mom, considering how Ashley and Christine have become relatively close in the past few weeks. Ashley would probably want the loving support from her mother.

As soon as she hangs up the phone, Kyla yells out to get her attention, "Spencer!"

Spencer whips her body around to see Kyla, walking fast towards her. A small cloud of air escapes her mouth as she breathes out to ask, "Hey Spencer." Kyla wraps her arms quickly around Spencer then releases. Spencer and Kyla begin to walk back into the hospital. "How is she?"

Spencer says, "She's really good. I think this should be it. No more troubles."

Kyla replies, "I hope so. This sickness has been dragged out way too long."

Spencer mumbles, "Yea, tell me about it."

Kyla and Spencer walk down the halls towards Ashley's room without saying anything to each other. Each has their own thoughts, worries, and confusions on the whole situation, which is causing them to not speak.

A few moments before they walk into her room, Spencer says, "She might be awake, but I can't promise that. She just got out of surgery not too long ago so she's probably still out of it."

They turn the corner and enter right into the room to find Ashley, sitting up, wide-awake in her bed. Ashley sees the two bodies, through the corner of her eye, and turns her head to look straight at them. Ashley says in a peppy tone, "Hey Kyla."

Kyla slowly continues to walk into the room. She says confusedly, "Hey Ashley?"

Spencer is a little taken back by how alert and lively Ashley is, considering she just got out of surgery a few minutes ago. Spencer shrugs her eyebrows and speaks, "Ash? Are you okay?"

Ashley shrugs her eyebrows as well, trying to figure out what all the possible confusion is about. She asks, "Is there supposed to be something wrong?"

Spencer and Kyla look back and forth at each other. Spencer says, "No, but how come you're so alert? You had trouble keeping your eyes up just a few moments ago."

Ashley expresses her innocence by saying quietly, "I don't know. I guess I'm not drowsy anymore? I don't know what to say."

Kyla jumps in, "Are you sure nothing's wrong? Nothing hurts or anything?"

Ashley scuffs her voice, "No. Now would you both stop worrying so much? There's nothing wrong with me." While keeping her eyebrows shrugged, Spencer cautiously moves around the room, sustaining her vision on Ashley. Spencer examines her closely. Ashley requests, "Would you please stop looking at me like I'm a piece of meat?"

Spencer quickly shies away, but then looks back, "Okay, but I'm keeping a close eye on you."

Kyla jumps in again, "All right Spencer. Now you just look like a predator who has just found its meal."

Ashley says happily and chuckles a little bit, "Thank you! She understands what I mean."

Dr. Brown walks directly into the room after that. He comes in with his scrubs off and his white jacket on and a clipboard. He says energetically, "Hello hello hello."

Spencer jumps on him quickly with a question, "Dr. Brown, is it normal for Ashley to be so energetic this early after the surgery?"

He utters, "Well…uh." He looks over at Ashley to quickly glance at her. He looks back at Spencer. "It's not uncommon for someone to become this alert after surgery. Does that clear up any confusions?"

Ashley interrupts, "Yes. Everything is fine and there's nothing to worry about. Right Spencer?"

Spencer sighs and rolls her eyes, "Yes."

Dr. Brown proceeds, "Yes. Well I'm just here for a quick check up." He walks closer to the machines to check the readings. He jots down a few things onto his clipboard. He asks, "Does anything hurt? Any aches or pains?"

Ashley ponders a little on the question. She answers, "No. I feel great actually. I think that's the best sleep I've gotten in years. I feel invincible."

He says happily, "Well, that's really good news, but you're not invincible just yet. We still have to get the results from the lab for the tumor. I'm pretty sure the results are in your favor."

Ashley smiles, "That's a relief."

He continues, "Yes it is, but I didn't say you're out of the blue, yet so don't keep your hopes too high." He shrugs his shoulders.

Ashley says quietly, "That's understandable."

Dr. Brown looks at Spencer, waiting for her to nod her head in agreement or to at least show she's on the same page. He speaks, "Okay well I'll be back later to check up on you again so don't go anywhere."

Ashley chuckles lightly, "I won't, I promise."

He says simply, "Okay" as he walks out of the room.

Kyla sighs and claps her hands together only once and says, "Finally some good news."

Ashley stares at her bed sheets closely while she says, "Yea. Could you imagine if this is it? Like, all I have to do is recover from this and then that's it? No blackouts, flashbacks or transforming into another person?"

Spencer sighs, but then smiles. She replies, "That would be amazing if that happened." They all stay there, thinking about the situation. Then Spencer blurts, "I bet your mom's here. I'll be right back."

Before they know it, Spencer is out of the room, heading towards the hospital entrance.

***

"So Dr. Brown said there's a good chance the tumor isn't cancerous," Ashley says to her mom.

Christine replies, "That's really good honey. I'm glad to hear that."

Ashley says quietly, "Yup." Ashley waits a few moments before speaking again. "I just hope I have to recover from the surgery and be done with all of this sickness. I'm tired of it, even though I've only dealt with it a few weeks. I just don't want to be sick anymore. No-" Ashley breaks her sentence, "I don't want to see Spencer so worried anymore. I've never seen her like this before."

Christine assures, "But you gotta understand that she's been through so much more than you can imagine in the past eight months."

Ashley says, "I know, but I just wish I could tell her everything is going to be all right and reassure her that I'm always going to be here."

Christine informs, "Listen, I know you want to tell her you're always going to be there, but there's gonna come a time where you're not gonna be there. You just have to cherish the moments you have together and live happily with that."

Ashley takes in all of the information. She waits awhile to reply. She says, "Would you mind writing that down so I can tell that to Spencer?"

Christine says playfully, "Oh stop it. You'll be fine. In no time, this will just be a thing to look back on and somehow laugh over, I promise."

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_3 months later_

_Ashley and Spencer are staring directly at each other. Both have remains of tears, running down their faces._

_Ashley reaches into her jacket and pulls out a gun. Spencer gasps and almost faints. Ashley puts it against her own head and cocks it back._

_Spencer yells, "Ashley! What are you doing!"_

_Ashley cries out, "I'm tired of feeling so much pain! It's been three miserable months and I'm only getting worse! I just want it to all go away!" Ashley sniffles, as Spencer stands there, speechless._

_Spencer finally says, "Ashley, put the gun down. Put the gun down, Ashley."_

_Ashley says quietly, "I'm so sorry, Spencer." Ashley finger begins to shake on the trigger._

_Spencer yells, "Ashley put it down!"_

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_1 week later_

Dr. Brown decided to have Ashley stay in the hospital until the results from the testing came back. First, because he wanted her to go through extensive care to make sure she left the hospital as well as possible. Second, because he figured letting Ashley go home wouldn't do her any good because she would just spend her days, stressed over the results of the test. Third, because Dr. Brown went ahead and did a full-body scan and tests to check if a cancer had caused the tumor. The results weren't back yet from the tumor, but he wanted to be ahead of the game. And Lastly, because he loves the vibe that radiates off of Spencer and Ashley when they are together and that's what makes him love his job and want to get up every morning.

It's around 12:30 in the afternoon and Ashley is in her bed, waiting for her mid-day meal from Paula. She's stoked for this upcoming meal only because she gets jello today. It might seem like nothing, but compared to what she's had to eat over the past week, it's like a gourmet dessert.

Ashley begins to twiddle her thumbs as Paula races into the room, ecstatic as ever. She says in an overly anxious tone, "Guess what!"

Ashley can't help but smile because seeing Paula in such a great mood puts a smile on her face. Ashley shrugs her shoulders, waiting for a response. Ashley asks in a semi-rude way, "Where's my jello?"

Before Paula says anything, she looks around the room, looking for Spencer. She asks quickly, "Where did Spencer go?"

Ashley informs in a casual tone, "Oh. She went down to the cafeteria to get some rocket fuel."

Paula looks at her confusedly without saying anything.

Ashley explains, "Coffee."

Paula says, "Oh. That's true. The hospital's coffee is wicked strong."

Ashley says quietly, "Yup. So what is it that's so exciting?"

Paula quickly looks out the doorway, checking for Spencer's arrival. She says, "I want to wait for Spencer. But don't worry this is really good news." She looks back out the door again, acting very impatient. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Uh…" Ashley looks around the room for a clock, but instead just answers. "She should be back any second now."

Seconds later, Spencer casually walks into the room holding a hot cup of coffee in one hand and reading a newspaper in the other hand. The newspaper distracts Spencer's ability to see her mom, standing in the room. Paula says sarcastically, "Well, hello to you too."

That statement grabs Spencer's attention and she turns around to look at her mother. She apologizes, "Oh sorry. I was just reading the paper. The stock market dropped 200 points today so I figured I would take a gander at it." Spencer places the paper and the coffee onto the table and then looks back at her mom. She asks, "So what's up? What's going on?"

Paula takes in a deep breath before speaking. She releases her words, "The test results came back…"

Ashley gasps and asks, "And?"

Paula frowns a little and says, "Well there's the good news and then there's…the bad news."

Spencer insists, "Mom, just spit it out."

"Okay." She pauses, but only for two seconds. "The tumor is benign and every single test from the full-body tests showed no sign of cancer."

Ashley's mouth drops to the floor as Spencer says, "Oh my God." Spencer quickly races over to Ashley to give her the biggest hug ever.

Spencer lets her grip go of Ashley with a tear running down her face. She turns back to her mom while wiping the tears away. She says, "Don't worry. These are tears of joy and nothing else." Spencer gives Ashley, who is still in a state of shock from the news, a quick peck on the cheek.

_This is it. It's all done and over with. I'm healthy again. No more problems. Spencer will be happy, I will be happy, and we'll be Ashley and Spencer again. This is the best day of my life. No more problems. No more problems. No more…_

Spencer asks, "Wait, what's the bad news?"

Paula makes a frown, "I won't be able to see you guys as much." Spencer rolls her eyes like a teenager would and groans. Paula rambles, "Ever since you moved out, it's been really quiet. Glen and Brittany and Danielle are gone and Clay and Chelsea are gone. Your dad and I don't really get much time with you kids anymore."

Ashley jumps in, "Paula, I will personally make sure we spend quality time with you from now on."

Paula creates a wide smile, but then makes a fake angry face. She says sarcastically to Spencer, "I'm glad she loves me at least."

Still acting like a teen, Spencer rolls her eyes and says, "Oh Mom."

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_One week later_

Ashley is lying on the couch with her body hanging all over as if she her body was made of spaghetti. She looks over at Spencer with a huge grin. She says, "I'm so glad to be home. Well I've been home for a while, but it just feels so nice being home."

Spencer says seriously, "It's really nice to have you here and healthy. I waited eight months for this to happen and I'm just thankful I was able to get the second chance to be with you."

Ashley assures, "I promise you, even if I'm not physically here in the future for whatever reason, I will be there for you. You can always count on me, Spencer."

She remains quiet, "I know I can."

Ashley doesn't like Spencer's demeanor. She looks like something is bothering her or is just sad in general, but Ashley can't think of what it could be caused by, considering they just got the greatest news of their married life. Ashley picks herself up from the couch to walk over to Spencer. Ashley lifts her leg up onto the couch Spencer is on to wrap around Spencer's body. Ashley sits directly behind Spencer with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Ashley puts her head on her shoulder in a gentle way and looks up at Spencer's face. Ashley asks quietly, "What's wrong?"

Spencer answers quickly, "Nothing."

Ashley says in a playful tone, "Come on Spencer. Something's up so just tell me."

Spencer doesn't do or say anything for a good amount of time. She finally says, "To be honest, I'm worried I'm going to lose you again."

Ashley speaks seriously, "Spencer, the test results show no cancer whatsoever. So there's nothing going to be holding me back from being here with you."

Spencer says, "I know. I know, but the past eight months have showed me to expect the unexpected. One minute, you were on your way home to be with me and then the next minute you're in a 6-month coma from a car accident. And then I had a 'remake' version of you that was adequate, but she wasn't you. She was taken away from me and then the whole tumor scare. I just…it's a miracle you're still here, but I'm more than glad it turned out that way."

Ashley can't really say anything because she wasn't personally there to go through the same things that Spencer did when everything happened. The stress and pain that was put on Spencer must have been unbelievable. She never knew when or if Ashley was going to be around the next day.

Ashley tries to comfort her, "I'm here now. I'm always going to be here, I promise."

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_Ashley drives along the road, trying to get home as quickly as possible. It's dark out with just a few cars on the road._

_Ashley sees her favorite picture of Spencer fall to the ground. Instead of being a patient person and waiting until she got home to get the picture, Ashley tries to grab it while still driving._

_When she is unsuccessful after a few tries, she leaves her attention of driving to direct it to the picture. Ashley's hand slips on the steering wheel, causing the car to sharply turn onto the other side of the road where a car from the oncoming traffic hits her, head on._

Ashley wakes up, heart beating faster than ever and her head and palms all sweaty. She wakes up to the soothing sound of Spencer sleeping, which helps her calm down from the nightmare and eventually helps her fall asleep.

Little did Ashley know, that was only going to be the start of the nightmares to come.

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**If there is any confusion, I'd be glad to clear it up with any questions there are :)**


	14. Chapter 13

**So guys this is the last update for a while. I'll try to get one in as soon as I can :)**

**Author's Note: Flashbacks/blackouts/dreams are in italics**

**Chapter 13**

"Hey, I'm heading off to work. I'll see you later tonight," Spencer says calmly to Ashley.

Ashley is lying in the bed as she hears Spencer's tranquil voice speaking to her. She inhales loudly and stretches out her body without opening her eyes. She sleepily says, "Okay babe. See ya later." Spencer begins to walk towards the door, but Ashley's voice causes her to stop. "Wait, what time is it?"

Spencer looks at the digital clock in the room and answers, "10."

Ashley jumps up immediately and says, "What? Did the alarm clock not go off?"

Spencer rushes her words, "I don't know, but I gotta get going or I'm going to be late. Bye hun."

"Bye."

_10? How the heck was I able to sleep in so late? I haven't done that in years…probably longer if I think about it. _

Ashley sits up in the bed, gazing around the room. She hears nothing but complete silence.

_I want something, but I can't put my finger on as to what exactly. _

Ashley swings her legs to the side of the bed and steps out, fixing her shirt and pants so they look semi-decent.

She walks out of the bedroom and down the flight of stairs to go in the kitchen. She grabs the coffee pot with the old coffee to make new stuff. She pops off the top to pour the cold coffee down the drain. She rinses the pot then begins to fill it with the filter water. As she holds the pot under the faucet, she looks around the kitchen, out of habit. She glances over at a note that is taped on the cabinet. Her half-woken eyes are not able to read it clearly, but she knows exactly what is written on it. She wrote it just a little over twelve hours ago, right before going to bed.

She turns her head back to the pot being completely filled and extracts it from the water. She turns off the faucet and carries the pot to place it on the stove. She shuffles her feet across the floor over to the note. She snatches the phone from it's stand to dial Christian's number.

"9…9…2…5…5…5…1…6…5…9," Ashley mumbles to herself as she slowly dials.

_Ring…ring…_

"_Hello?" a masculine voice picks up the phone_.

"Hey Christian, how's it going?" Ashley replies in a less-than-peppy tone, considering she just got out of bed.

_He answers adequately, "It's going okay. How are you feeling?" _

Ashley says with honesty, "I feel fine, actually. I mean, you know, I'm still here." Ashley chuckles lightly to kind of ease up the tension.

_He says quietly on the other end, "Yes, yes you are."_

Ashley lets only a few seconds go past before saying, "So I was thinking about working on that new album. You know the one I was supposed to do like a year ago…"

_He clears his throat then speaks, "Ashley, remember what I told you when you first got into the music business?" _

Ashley replies, "Come on, Christian. Don't make me think this early in the morning."

_He chuckles a little and then explains himself, "I told you that people are demanding, especially fans. And when they don't get what they want, when they want it, they move onto someone who will give them what they want when they want it."_

Ashley tries to think about that a while. She finally asks, "What do you mean, Christian?"

_He sighs, "I don't know how to put this into the right words…"_

Ashley demands, "Just spit it out."

_He says bluntly, "You're old Ashley. Your moment of fame is gone. Its been almost a year since you've performed, and quite honestly, everyone has moved on."_

Ashley asks heartbrokenly, "Have you?"

_He asks, "What?" _

"Have you moved on…Christian?" Ashley asks solemnly.

There's a long, drawn out pause in the conversation. Not even an utter is being produced, but to Ashley, that was a clear enough answer for her.

Ashley puts her head back, looking up at the ceiling. _This is not happening right now. I need my music._ Ashley lets out an exasperated sigh, "Jeez Chris—"

_He tries to explain himself, "Look, Ash. I'll try to do everything in my power to get you back in the business, but I can't promise you anything." _

Ashley looks back down at the counter, to the note that once brought joy and hope into her future. She grabs the pen nearest to the paper and begins to scratch deep into the note F-M-L

Because she maintains her concentration on the note, she forgets about the person on the phone for a few seconds. _Christian speaks, "Ash? Aaashley?"_

She snaps back into reality, "Huh? Yea, what?"

Ashley hears people in the background, but can't make anything out clearly because he probably has his hand on the phone. _He speaks into the background, "Okay…okay…one second." He speaks into the phone "Ash, I'm sorry, but I got to go right now. I'm going to do the best I can to get you back in. Do you trust me?"_

Ashley replies in a sigh, "Of course I do, you're my agent."

"_Alright. I'll talk to you later, Ash. Bye."_

"Bye."

Ashley hangs up the phone and places it back on it's stand. She lets out a big sigh and scratches her forehead. _What am I supposed to do now? _

_How am I supposed to tell Spencer? Even worse, how are we going to be able to pay the medical bills?_

_Don't worry about it, Ashley. Just stay calm and everything will be just fine…just fine. _

Ashley lets out another sigh and proceeds to prepare the coffee when she feels and hears her stomach rumble loudly. She says out loud, "Would you wait a minute? I'll feed you soon."

Ashley finishes setting up the coffee and turns on the flame. She walks out of the kitchen and through the foyer to go out the front door. She steps out into the fresh, crisp California air. Ashley takes in a good whiff and jogs down the steps and the driveway. She bends down to grab the newspaper as she hears a young boy yell, "Watch out!"

Ashley looks up in the direction from the voice and within two seconds, a baseball plummets down on her head, immediately knocking her out.

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_Ashley pulls up into the driveway slowly with her eyes barely open due to a hard, long day at the studio. It's past midnight and she's exhausted and excited to be home, to say the least. All she wants to do is take a relaxing bath and then climb into bed to snuggle with her baby. _

_Before leaving the studio, Ashley called Spencer to tell her she was on her way home, but no one picked up so Ashley figured she is already in bed._

_She opens the front door with her keys and swings open the door. She lets the bag slip out of her hand and onto the floor. She closes the door behind her and trudges towards the kitchen. She switches on the light and immediately sees a flashing red light from the phone. Ashley sighs greatly and complains, "Really? Why must there be messages for me to listen to at this hour of the night?" _

_Ashley presses the button to play the messages and walks over to the table. The speaker echoes throughout the room as Ashley glances at the bills lying on the table. _

_The speaker begins with the first message as Spencer whispers, "Hey, Ash it's me calling from the office. I tried calling your cell but it went straight to voicemail. I figured you were busy so I'm calling the house. I'll be home from work a little later than I expected. I've got this client whose riding up my—"_

"_Dr. Carlin, I really need your help," an obnoxious voice says in the background. _

"_I have to go, but I'll see you later tonight, babe. Love ya." Ashley hears the click of the phone hanging up on the other end. Ashley thought it was a sweet message even though she's gotten those kinds of messages before. This one just seems a little more special. _

_Ashley walks towards the phone when she hears the doorbell ring. She jumps up a little because she wasn't expecting the door to ring at such an hour. _

_She hesitantly walks over to the front door with her eyes like quarters. She opens the coat closet and grabs the bat out of there. Ashley secures the bat in her hand as she slowly continues to walk towards the door. _

_She gradually puts her eye up closer to the peep hole of the door and immediately sees two armed men with police outfits on, standing at the door. She says quietly "I didn't take anything, I swear." _

_Ashley puts the bat on the floor and opens the door. She pulls the screen door in and asks calmly, "What can I do for you officers?" _

_The older officer says, "Are you a Mrs. Ashley Davies?" _

_Ashley answers confusedly, "Yes, that's me."_

_The man gets very serious and to the point quickly, "A couple hours ago, a Spencer Davies was hit head-on by a tractor trailer. She was killed instantly." _

_Ashley shakes her head and says, "No, that's not possible. She's right upstairs, in bed, sleeping." _

_Both cops look back and forth at each other in distress. All they are thinking about is how to break it to her that Spencer died. _

_The younger cop reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a bag of silver jewels and hands it to Ashley. He speaks, "Does this look familiar to you?" _

_Ashley reaches out as the cop drops the bag into her hand. Ashley cups the object with both of her hands and tilts it in different directions to see exactly what it is. _

"_Spashley" gleams as Ashley tilts it closer to her. It's the bracelet Ashley gave Spencer right after graduation, just in a battered up and rusted way._

_Ashley asks quietly to herself, "Spencer?" _

_Tears start rolling down her face and onto the plastic bag. _

_The older officer has a very sad face and says, "If there is anything you would like us to do, we're here." _

_Ashley utters, "Just bring her back to me." _

_-----------------------------------------------------------------_

Ashley wakes up to the splash of water in her face. She immediately sits up and starts coughing out water from her mouth. She yells at the young boy, Luke, standing next to her with a bucket in his hand and a glove in the other, "Where's Spencer? Where—? What just happened?"

He says in his innocent voice, "You weren't waking up, Mrs. Davies. My brother told me to dump water on you."

She looks around, viewing multiple things at once: a young man mowing his lawn down the street, a few sprinklers going at various houses, and of course young boys and girls running around, playing in the nearby cul-de-sac. _I must have not been out for that long_.

She asks Luke, "How long was I sleeping?"

He answers, "A long time. We kept trying to wake you up, but you wouldn't."

She asks, "What happened?"

He explains, "David hit the ball and it went right to your head. I tried to warn you, but the ball conked you in the head anyway. Sorry."

Ashley encourages, "Its okay. Did you at least get your ball before it rolled down the hill?" Ashley chuckles a little.

He smiles, "Yea, I made David run after it because he hit you in the head."

Ashley slowly gets up from the ground, feeling immediate pounding in her forehead. She looks around the area and asks, "Where is David anyway?"

He looks at their house and informs, "He ran inside as soon as he saw me carrying a bucket of water outside to dump on your head. He's such a chicken." He laughs generously.

Ashley snickers. She responds, "Oh ok. Well would you tell him that I'm okay and he doesn't have to be scared? I'm going to go to the doctors to make sure everything is alright with my head. Goodbye Luke and thank you very much."

Luke picks up his hat from the ground and places back on his head. He begins to walk away with the glove in the bucket in his hand. He says sincerely, "You're welcome, Mrs. Davies. I hope you feel better. And again, I'm really sorry."

Ashley consoles, "It's alright, I promise. Just make sure David doesn't hit the ball in the wrong direction." She smiles.

He promises, "Alright will do."

Ashley starts to walk towards the door and immediately feels the flashback from before, reappear. The sunny sky has become a dark, eerie color and she's re-living walking those few steps to the front door like previously.

Ashley stops herself and shakes herself out of the image. _What the hell is going on? _

She walks through the door and directly into the kitchen. She whips out the phonebook from the drawer underneath to look up the hospital's number. She dials it really quick and waits impatiently for someone to pick up on the other end.

"_Hello?" A feminine voice answers._

Ashley speaks, "Hello is Dr. Carlin available?"

_The receptionist answers, "One moment please." _

_Come on, lady. I might not have one moment_.

Ashley hears the phone get passed on to another person. _Paula says, "Hello?"_

Ashley rushes her words, "Hey Paula. Do you think you can get me in with Dr. Brown as soon as possible? Something just happened and I—"

_Paula interrupts, "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get in. Just get to the hospital as soon and as safe as you can." _

Ashley rushes her words again so she can make it to the hospital before any flashbacks occur, "Ok. Thanks so much, Paula. I'll see you in a little bit. Bye."

"_Bye." _

Ashley hangs up the phone and grabs the car keys that are hanging up on the hook. She storms out of the house, into the car and directly to the hospital.

Ashley speed walks to the front desk where a young, attractive girl sits, taking care of anything a secretary does. She immediately says, "Excuse me, I need to see Dr. Brown as soon as possible."

She looks up and answers in a curt tone, "Do you have an appointment with him?"

Ashley thinks for a couple seconds to think of an answer. She responds, "Yes."

In a rude tone again, she asks, "Name?"

Ashley squirms like a little kid and finally explains, "Listen, I don't really have an appointment. I just really need to get in as soon as you can get me in."

She's giving Ashley a lot of attitude. She speaks, "If you don't have an appointment, it could take up to two hours before we get you in to see him."

Ashley blows some steam through her nose. She asks impatiently, "Is Dr. Carlin available?"

She looks down at her clipboard, "She's with a patient now."

Ashley demands, "Can you please page her?"

Paula alerts from across the room, "Ashley."

Ashley turns her head quickly towards the noise, "Paula." She utters, "Thank you."

Paula walks closer to Ashley and waves her arm at her to tell her to come through, "Come in, Ash."

Ashley gives the receptionist a fake smile and walks directly through the doors. She meets up with Paula within a few moments and Ashley greets, "Thank you so much. I was afraid I would never get in with that receptionist."

They pace down the hall together as Paula informs, "Yea, she's new here. I wish they would get rid of her. I absolutely can not stand her for one second."

Ashley asks, "How do you put up with her so well?"

She scuffs, "I don't. Why do you think I've been running around these halls all day?"

Ashley responds, "Ooh. I get it." Ashley sees her old room is available from across the hall. She asks, "You're putting me in the same room?!"

Paula slows down because they get closer to the room, "We're limited for space in this ward. The town's trying to fix that, but for now, you get this room." Paula points her arm into the room, guiding Ashley to follow in.

Ashley cautiously steps into the room. _This room can still give me the creeps._

Paula speaks kindly, "Ashley, make yourself at home and I'll go get Dr. Brown."

Paula speeds down the hall and out of Ashley's site within no time. Ashley places her purse down on the nearby table from where she is standing. She glares around the room like a person trying to find a new home. She checks out every crack and crease in the room and then Dr. Brown steps in, joyous as ever.

Dr. Brown greets, "Hello Ashley."

Ashley is a little startled, but turns around and returns the greeting, "Hello Dr. Brown."

He says like a gentleman, "Please, sit," as he points to the chair right next to Ashley. Ashley hops into the seat, getting comfortable before the questioning starts. He starts off slow, "So Ashley tell why you're here."

She explains, "Well, this morning I went out to get the newspaper and the next thing I know, a baseball hit my in the head and knocked me out."

He instantly becomes worried, "What part of the head exactly?" He stands up, waiting for Ashley to answer so he can quickly examine the impacted area.

"The right side." Ashley removes the cap from her head to reveal her bald spot from the surgery. Dr. Brown lightly touches around the area of the scar. Ashley doesn't flinch with his touch. He starts at the beginning and goes again, just slightly harder.

He says soothingly, "Does this hurt?"

Ashley answers honestly, "No."

He digs in vaguely deeper over the area and again she doesn't draw back. He moves to the side of her head and initiates rubbing his hands on her head. His range of motion is getting bigger, but it's not affecting Ashley one bit. "Any pain there?"

Ashley utters, "Nope."

He frees his hands from her skull and grabs his clipboard. He writes a little note on there as he explains the upcoming procedure, "I don't feel any bump and you didn't complain of having any pain, but that doesn't mean anything. I have to admit, I'm a little worried there's no soreness from the impact. It could mean a variety of things and that's why I'm going to send you for an MRI. I just want to make sure there's no internal bruise or any damage to the area that the tumor was removed from."

Ashley takes in all of the information and continually nods her head during her thinking process. He makes a tiny noise as he continues to write. He stops for a second and asks, "Is there any other kind of pain anywhere else in the body?"

Ashley snaps out of her semi-daze and answers honestly, "No." A few seconds go by and then she speaks again, "But there's something else…"

He glares straight at her and questions quickly, "What is it?"

She explains, "When I got hit by the ball, I was immediately knocked out and then I instantly went into a dream-like thing. I dreamt that one night, I came home very tired and excited to be with Spencer, but then moments later, police show up at the door and give me the news that she was killed instantly in a car accident."

He's a little shocked, to say the least, by the dream. He responds, "It could just be your subconscious fear of losing someone you dearly love. It happens to us all at one point or another. I wouldn't dwell on it too much." He continues to write on the clipboard and then stops after a few seconds. He rips off a part of the paper he wrote on and hands it to Ashley. He clarifies, "Here's the prescription for the MRI. You can go down to the Diagnostic Imaging center in town to schedule an appointment or just come to the hospital and I'll be able to get you in as soon as possible." He smiles, reassuring Ashley that everything will be okay, or at least he hopes so.

She thanks, "Thank you Dr. Brown so much."

His genuine smile brightens up the room. He says clearly, "It's my pleasure." He slowly starts to walk out of the room as Ashley lifts herself out of her seat. "It was nice seeing you again; I just wish it wasn't so quick."

She sighs, "I know. Let's hope I don't have to see you ever again after this little scare is over with." She lets out a breath of air as he leads the way out of the room and down the hall.

He drops the file off at the front desk where the prude receptionist grabs it, walking off as he says, "I don't blame you. Goodbye Ashley."

She responds politely, "Goodbye Dr. Brown and have a nice day."

He puts his hand up as he continues to walk away to see his next patient.

Ashley walks out of the hospital and quickly takes out her cell phone. She dials Spencer's number and waits for a few rings to go before an answer occurs on the other end, _"Hello?"_

Ashley walks and talks towards the car, "Hey Spence. To make a really long story short, I just got out of the hospital because I got hit in the head with a baseball. And I straight away saw Dr. Brown and he's sending me for an MRI. I just have to set an appointment somewhere."

Spencer questions, furiously, "Is everything okay? Does anything hurt? Do you need anything? Want me to get anything for you? I'll pick up whatever you need as soon as I can."

Ashley says quickly, "Spencer, slow down. I'm fine. He examined my head and there was no pain, but he's still going to send me for an MRI."

Spencer responds simply, "Okay hun. I just want you to be healthy again so there's not the constant tension anymore."

Ashley speaks perfectly, "That makes two of us, believe me."

"Yea I know. Well, I'll talk to you later and if you need anything, don't hesitate to call. I love you, Ash."

"I love you too, Spence." There's a long pause because neither of them know what to say. "Well, I'm going to let you go. I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye."

Ashley hangs up the phone and takes out the keys to her car. She analyzes everything, "Could this day get any worse?"


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey guys I know it's been a very long time since I've updated this story, and I'm sorry for the delay to those who followed it, but here's an update :D enjoy!**

**Dreams/Flashbacks are in italics, as always**

**Chapter 14**

_A week later_

"Let's have a baby," Ashley suggests as Spencer and her drive in the car to the hospital.

Spencer snickers nervously, "Where'd that come from?" She looks back and forth at Ashley and the road.

Ashley hesitates to answer for a moment to make sure she has a good explanation. "Well, let's be honest, we're not getting any younger," Ashley says, but quickly wants to take it back due to Spencer's reaction. "And it's something we always planned on doing, so why wait any longer?"

"One thing at a time Ashley," Spencer speaks clearly. She keeps her full attention on the road. There's a moment of silence before Spencer explains herself. "We have to get the results back from the MRI first and then go from there, but let's not plan anything until we know for sure what's going on with you."

"I bet they'll come back just fine. Can't we just at least ask your mother how we go about doing all of that? She must know something," explained Ashley.

Spencer chooses not to respond at all.

Ashley asks eagerly, "Spence?"

Again, no response comes from Spencer.

The silence ponders for a while. "…Do you not want to have kids, Spencer?"

"I never said that," she says sternly.

"Then what's holding you back?"

Spencer lets a sigh out before speaking. "We don't even know if it'll work and I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Why wouldn't it work?"

She shrugs her shoulders as she turns the wheel into the hospital's parking lot. Her key chains jingle as the turn is made which turns into the only noise heard for a few moments. Spencer parks in the back of the hospital, away from the Emergency Room route.

Once the car is parked, Ashley unbuckles herself quickly to dart out of the car. Spencer lags a little then grabs her keys out of the ignition after shutting the car off. She shuts and locks her car then darts towards Ashley. Spencer shakes her head slightly as she asks, "Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm not acting like anything," she pouts.

Spencer slips her keys into her purse quickly. "You're acting so childish right now." Spencer exclaims.

The entrance nears as Ashley eggs the bickering on. "Wow, I'm surprised _child_ even passed your lips, considering it's clear you don't want any. Somehow I missed that part when we were dating."

Spencer stops short immediately. "What am I supposed to even say to that, Ashley? I don't understand why you're making this such a big deal right now!"

Ashley turns around to explain, "You don't want kids and now all of a sudden you're telling me that?"

"I never said I don't want kids!"

"You sure as hell implied it pretty damn well," Ashley snaps.

Both are breathing heavily, with their hearts racing, anticipating more nonsense to be yelled out by the other end. Without uttering a word, Spencer turns around to walk away from the situation.

"What? You're gonna just walk away because you can't deal with reality!" Ashley screams out.

Spencer, stunned by that statement, turns around to defend herself. "Don't you ever say that again!" Spencer slowly walks towards Ashley. "I sat next to your bed when you were in the hospital, day in and day out for months, not knowing whether or not you were actually going to wake up, instead of blocking it out and walking away from you. Because I love you." Spencer's heated body and mind takes a break for a second. "And whether or not you want to realize it right now, I 'm going to love you no matter what comes out of your mouth." Ashley and Spencer continue to stare deeply into each other's eyes. "I'm going to give you some time to cool off, but for the time being, you will go into hospital, get your test results, and when you're done and cooled off from this, you can call me and I will pick you up."

Without fighting back, Ashley obeys Spencer's demands. She walks through the hospital doors and straight to the front desk. The snotty receptionist sits at the desk, taking all the calls and patients. "Davies," Ashley says clearly.

As the girl types in the last name, she questions, "What time is your appointment?"

"10:00."

"There's going to be a wait, Ms. Davies. So if you would like, you can take a seat in the waiting room."

Ashley shifts her head slightly to glance at the waiting room area. Not a single soul is any of the chairs. Ashley asks rudely, "A wait?"

"Yes, an hour-long wait."

Ashley slightly raises her voice, "How can there be a wait?" She shows proof with her arm as she continues, "There's no one here for there to be a wait."

The receptionist replies impolitely, "Dr. Brown is very busy at the moment."

"That is such crap!" exclaims Ashley. "I know when Dr. Brown is busy—the whole waiting room is filled with patients." She pauses quickly. "Is Dr. Carlin available?"Before the girl can answer, Ashley interrupts her, "Never mind. I'll wait patiently in the waiting room like you suggested."

Ashley utters to herself, "He needs a new receptionist."

She grabs a chair closest to the back corner, away from the girl. _How could he be so busy, especially on a week day? _She decides to lean in her chair to make the time go by quicker by taking a nap. Soon enough, she falls into a deep sleep, and unfortunately, another startling dream.

_As the concert comes to a close, the crowd comes in closer to make sure they hear as much as possible before the band starts up again. "I want to dedicate this last song to my mom. She was such a big inspiration for me and really helped me become who I am. So, Mom, this one's for you."_

"_There's no one in town I know  
You gave us some place to go  
I never said thank you for that  
'thought I might get one more chance_

__

What would you think of me now?  
So lucky, so strong, so proud  
I never said thank you for that  
Now I'll never have a chance

May angels lead you in  
Hear you me my friends  
On sleepless roads, the sleepless go  
May angels lead you in

So what would you think of me now?  
So lucky, so strong, so proud  
I never said thank you for that  
Now I'll never have a chance

May angels lead you in  
Hear you me my friends  
On sleepless roads the sleepless go  
May angels lead you in

May angels lead you in  
May angels lead you in  
May angels lead you in  
May angels lead you in

And if you were with me tonight  
I'd sing to you just one more time  
A song for a heart so big  
God wouldn't let it live

May angels lead you in  
Hear you me my friends  
On sleepless roads the sleepless go  
May angels lead you in

_May angels lead you in  
Hear you me my friends  
On sleepless roads the sleepless go  
May angels lead you in." _

_The crowd applauses ecstatically, including Spencer. His performance brings tears to her eyes, but only memory-filled ones. _

_After the hoorah and everything from the concert, Blake meets up with Spencer back stage. He puts his guitar in his case after he settles down next to where his mother is seated. "That was really great, Blake." Spencer pauses. "She would've loved it." _

_He buckles the case and speaks quietly, "I hope so." He picks up his case as he stands up from the floor. "I wish she could hear it." _

_Spencer assures, "Believe me, she heard you. Your mother tuned into any song she overheard." _

"_I bet." He glances down at the floor. "I wish she could've been here tonight."_

_Spencer rubs her son's shoulder in a comforting way. "She was Blake, we just couldn't see her."_

"_Yeah, she's still so much with us. You taught me that," he speaks. _

_Spencer chuckles slightly, "Good to know I actually taught my son something." _

_He laughs quietly as he guides the way out of back stage. "For the record, I think I've learned more than that from you." He opens his trunk of his car to place his guitar in. _

_Spencer closes the trunk for Blake and says, "You definitely got the music gene from her, though." _

_He shakes his head in agreement. As Blake reaches for his keys in his pocket, he says, "I miss her a lot, you know. It tears me apart sometimes to realize she's gone."_

"_No matter how much your mom and I fought, I still loved her, even after the divorce," says Spencer. An extended pause breaks their conversation. "You know that, don't you?"_

"_I remember when I was younger, coming home one night with Sophie after we had gone to Aubrey and Eric's house. We walked into the house, after being dropped off by their mom and instantly heard the yelling coming from the kitchen." He pauses to recall the events of that night. "You and mom had fought before, but I knew this fight was different. I was too young to comprehend what was being said, so I couldn't put it in simpler words for Sophie to understand. All I could do was to assure her everything was going to be okay and tell her to get ready for bed." He pauses again. "And you always told us every night, once we were asleep, we would get a kiss on the cheek and tucked into bed—if we weren't already. Mom even got a kiss every night and the next morning we would all compare which one had the weirdest looking set of lips on our cheeks by the way the lipstick rubbed off. It was a really corny game, but we all equally enjoyed it." Blake glances down at his key chains, "Mom didn't get a kiss that night, but Sophie and I both did, but neither of you would explain why. Then game just sort of stopped from then."_

_Spencer shakes her head in disagreement. "Just because the game stopped, doesn't mean the love between your mother and I did." _

"_Why couldn't you just pretend that everything was alright and continue to give all three of us kisses? Maybe the divorce wouldn't have even happened. Maybe Mom wouldn't have gotten so sick years later." Blake shoots his anger at her with a slight notion of disappointment. _

_She quickly tries to correct his thoughts and words, "She and I separated for more reasons than just a silly game that we all played. And her illness had nothing to do with the amount of love present between us. Things just happen." _

_He raises his voice slightly, "People make things happen. You and she made the divorce happen. You two could've worked it out and we would have all been together during her last days and gone through the hard stuff together. Joint custody never did any good. Everything was perfect before the divorce, compared to what it was after."_

"_This is not good. We shouldn't be arguing over things we can't change."_

"_You mean things Sophie and I couldn't change." Blake ends the conversation by getting into his car. Spencer contemplates trying to make a resolve with him, but with her experience of being a psychiatrist, it is something that needs to be discussed at a more appropriate time, but little did Spencer know, that would be one of the last times Blake and her would speak again. Slowly, Sophie and Blake distanced themselves from Spencer and each other and eventually, none of them would speak to another again. _

"Ashley. Ashley?" a nondescript voice projects from a relative distance. Ashley gradually awakens in her seat and gradually starts to make out the figure in front of her. It's Paula standing in front of her, which means either she wants to have a talk with her about her fight with Spencer (news travels extremely fast in the Carlin family) or that Dr. Brown is ready to see her. Ashley hopes it's the latter. "Dr. Brown can see you now." Ashley tries her best to go from groggy to alert in a couple seconds, before seeing the doctor. "Did you have a nice nap?"

She says with sarcasm, "I always get my best sleep in a hospital. Why do you think I was in a coma for so long?" Ashley grabs her purse and jacket from the chair next to hers.

Paula and Ashley walk side-by-side to the room where Dr. Brown will speak with her about the MRI results. "You're a funny one." Ashley snickers quietly to herself. "No Spencer today?"

To prevent being further questioned, Ashley lies, "She had to work." Paula leaves it at that as they continue to get closer to the room. Ashley thanks Paula for waking her up and escorting her to the room right before stepping into it. Paula exits the area to leave Ashley only in the room.

Within a matter of moments, Dr. Brown steps into the room with a joyous greeting, "Hello, ladies." He promptly realizes only one Davies is present. He corrects himself, "Lady."

Ashley greets with a smile, "Good morning, Dr. Brown. How are you today?" Ashley tries to re-direct his attention on something trivial rather than wondering or asking where Spencer is.

"Good so far. How's everything with you and Spencer?" he asks out of pure sincerity.

_Why is everyone so infatuated with what Spencer is up to? _"Everything is going well, can't really complain." Ashley remains brief in hopes of preventing anymore questions, unless they are relating to the MRI results.

He keeps it brief, as Ashley wished. "Wonderful. Let's take a look at these pictures," he refers to the MRI images. He scans quickly for the image(s) that would show the area that would be affected by her recent head injury. He pulls them out and spreads them against the fluorescent screen in front of them. He switches the light on and carefully examines the images in front of him. Ashley remains seated on the exam table as she inspects the pictures of her head. She notes to herself that there is not an abnormal white spot on any of the MRI scans like there was when there was a tumor in her head.

He mumbles a few insignificant personal notes to himself as he thoroughly looks over all of the scans. After viewing the few that were hung up there, he put a few more up for reassurance. Once he feels confident in his diagnosis, he speaks to Ashley. "Everything looks wonderful. I couldn't be more pleased with these scans."

Ashley lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness."

He begins to pull all of the scans from the board after turning the light off. He deposits them back into the folder. "As far as how you are feeling, how have you been?"

She answers, "I'm doing great, just waiting for my hair to grow back in so it covers the scars."

He hands over the folder filled with her brain images to Ashley. "Most of my patients see that as one of the more difficult things of brain surgery, but it is hair. It always grows back," he says reassuringly.

Ashley recalls the fight Spencer and she had and the dream she had, which made her realize something. "Well, if I didn't have the tumor taken out, I might not have my life." She nods her head slowly. "I have to be grateful for what I've got."

"You know, you'd do really well being an inspirational speaker at a church or at least something along those terms."

She chuckles, "That's very sweet of you but I have to work on getting back into the music world first."

"Make it into a song then," he suggests.

"But first, I have to spread the good news about the MRI results to everyone," she laughs again.

He smiles, "It sounds like you have a lot on your 'to-do' list. I better let you go and accomplish all of those tasks. But in the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, call the main desk and ask for me."

"Thank you Dr. Brown. Have a good day."

"You too, Ashley. Say hello to Spencer for me."

She nods her head as she exits out of the room with the folder in her hand. She joyously exits the building and immediately begins to look for Spencer and/or her car. Ashley glances to the right of her and sees Spencer and another doctor making small talk. Spencer and she catch each other's eyes and Spencer breaks away from her conversation with the doctor. They walk towards each other, meeting half-way, both with smiles on their faces for different reasons.

Spencer makes a comment, "Someone seems to be in a better mood."

"Come here," Ashley says passionately as she pulls Spencer into her arms. They embrace each other as Ashley states, "I'm so sorry for the way I acted before."

Spencer pulls away to look Ashley in the face. "I should be apologizing. I should've realized how stressed out you were because you didn't know what the MRI results showed. Wait, what did they show?"

"Dr. Brown said they were perfect, which is always good." Ashley shakes her head, "I don't want to fight anymore, especially over stupid things like games we play with the kids."

Spencer hesitates, "We have kids?"

"Forget I even said that, I just want to spend time with you, without worrying about anything." She pauses. "We were supposed to do that eight months ago."

Spencer kisses Ashley on the cheek promptly. "You got it. Let's go out tonight. Just you and me. No cell phones, blackberries, or any other devices that ring or beep."

"Sounds orgasmic," Ashley responds bluntly. Spencer giggles and grabs Ashley's hand to hold on the way back to her car. "Hey, since the MRI results came back normal, can we get a dog?"

**What'd you guys think? **


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